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Some of the media I read/saw/listened to/downloaded/purchased in 2011. Sadly, not in any kind of order. If you've consumed any of these, I'd love to know what you thought. If you want to know more of my opinions about any of these, just ask.
Paper Books and eBooks
Karl Schroeder, Lady of Mazes
Walter Mosley, Walkin’ the Dog; The Wave
Ken Grimwood, Replay
S.J. Day, “Eve of Sin City”; Eve of Darkness; Eve of Destruction
Barbara Ehrenreich, Bright-sided
Seanan McGuire, Rosemary and Rue (October Daye #1); A Local Habitation (October Daye #2)
Laurie R. King, Monstrous Regiment of Women (Mary Russell #2)
Erving Goffman, Stigma
Judi Dench, And Furthermore
Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman, The Fall of the Kings
Ken Belson and Brian Bremner, Hello Kitty: The Remarkable Story of Sanrio and the Billion Dollar Feline Phenomenon
Judith Kohlberg and Kathleen Nadeau, Add-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life
Laurell K. Hamilton, Hit List (Anita Blake #20)
Annie Cheney, Body Brokers: Inside America's Underground Trade in Human Remains
Thomas Sniegoski, A Kiss Before the Apocalypse (Remy Chandler #1)
Sally Mitchell, Daily Life in Victorian England
Jeff Chang, Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation
Nnendi Okorafor, Zahrah the Windseeker
Michael Chabon, Yiddish Policeman's Union
Lois McMaster Bujold, Diplomatic Immunity; Cryoburn
Nathaniel Philbrick, Why Read Moby Dick?
Jo Walton, Among Others
Cally Hall, Gemstones; Antoinette Matlins, Colored Gemstones: The Antoinette Matlins Buying Guide; Judith Crowe, The Jeweler's Directory of Gemstones
Audio Books
Scott Lynch, Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard #1); Red Seas Under Red Skies (Gentleman Bastard #2)
William Somerset Maugham, Short Stories of William Somerset Maugham, Volume 1
Eleanor Updale, Montmorency
Terry Pratchett, Monstrous Regiment
John Varley, Press Enter
Isaac Asimov, The End of Eternity
Andrea Camilleri, The Snack Thief (Inspector Montalbano #3); Excursion to Tindari (Inspector Montalbano #5); The Smell of the Night (Inspector Montalbano #6); Rounding the Mark (Inspector Montalbano #7); The Patience of the Spider (Inspector Montalbano #8)
Jeaniene Frost, Halfway to the Grave (Night Huntress #1); One Foot in the Grave (Night Huntress #2)
Ilona Andrews, Magic Bites (Kate Daniels #1); Magic Burns (Kate Daniels #2)
Ian Fleming, Goldfinger; Quantum of Solace
Julie Kagawa, The Iron King
Alexander McCall Smith, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
Betsey Dexter Dyer, Unseen Diversity: The World of Bacteria (Lecture series);
Charlaine Harris, Grave Sight (Harper Connelly #1); Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse #1)
Simon Brett, Dead Side of the Mike (Charles Paris #5)
Kim Harrison, Dead Witch Walking
Robert Wittman, Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures
Agatha Christie, The Secret of Chimneys; The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Poirot #1); Murder at the Vicarage (Miss Marple #1)
Gail Carriger, Soulless (Alexia Tarabotti #1)
Walter Mosley, Fear of the Dark (Fearless Jones #3); Black Betty (Easy Rawlins, #3)
William Gibson, Count Zero (Sprawl trilogy #2)
Pearl S. Buck, The Good Earth
Herman Melville, "Billy Budd"
Deborah Blum, The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
Michael Innes, Appleby's End (Appleby #10)
John Mortimer, Rumpole of the Bailey; Rumpole's Last Case & Other Stories
Richard Adams, Watership Down
James A. Owen, Here There Be Dragons (Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica #1)
Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse
Naomi Novik, His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire #1)
Ursula K. Le Guin, City of Illusions
Baroness Orkzy, The Scarlet Pimpernel
Sara Gruen, Water for Elephants
Alexandre Dumas, The Three Musketeers
M. Lee Alexander, Modern Scholar: Detective Fiction from Victorian Sleuths to the Present Lecture series
Hal Clement, Needle
Kurt Vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan
M. John Harrison, Nova Swing
Rex Stout, Not Quite Dead Enough
Sam Kean, The Disappearing Spoon
Oliver Sacks, Awakenings
Octavia Butler, Wild Seed
Alex Haley, Roots
Amir D. Aczel, Present at the Creation: The Story of CERN
Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone
DVDs/Movies/TV
Terry Jones’ Medieval Lives (8-episode TV documentary)
Terry Jones: Gladiators: The Brutal Truth (documentary)
Hogan’s Heroes (TV series)
Star Trek: “Who Mourns for Adonais?”
Storm (movie)
Pirate Radio (movie)
Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo (24-episode anime)
Shaguna no Shana (episodic anime)
Life on Mars (UK version, 2-season TV series)
Bach & Friends (movie-length documentary)
Black Jack (short anime series)
Flyboys (movie)
Samurai Champloo (anime series)
Terminator: Salvation (movie)
Ken Burns's Jazz (multi-episode documentary)
Being Julia (movie)
The Departed (movie)
Playing Shakespeare (multi-episode acting workshop)
Keeping Mum (movie)
Ofelas (Pathfinder) (movie)
The Virgin Suicides (movie)
Blues Brothers (movie)
How to Train Your Dragon (animated movie)
The Wire, season 1 (TV series)
Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman (movie)
Two Fat Ladies (multi-season TV cooking show)
Happy Feet (animated movie)
Fafner in the Azure (multi-episode anime)
Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Swedish movie)
Ponyo (animated movie)
Sarah Connor Chronicles (TV series; we haven't finished watching it yet)
Stranger Than Fiction (movie)
Columbo (original TV movie series)
Mississippi Masala (movie)
African Queen (Hepburn/Bogart movie)
Sita Sings the Blues (animated movie)
Notes on a Scandal (movie)
Dreamgirls (movie)
Metropia (animated movie)
Les Triplettes de Belleville (animated movie)
La Femme Nikita (original movie)
Megamind (animated movie)
Lost (we got through the first 4 episodes and gave up)
Hugo (movie)
Chopped (Food Network show)
Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives (Food Network show)
The A-Team (original TV series)
Pan's Labyrinth (movie)
The Prisoner (origina 1960s tv series)
Music purchased
Songs/Collections
"The Cat Food Song," Robin Radus (on Youtube)
Chart Sweep, Parts 1-2, compiled by Hugo Keesing
"Two Against One," Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi
"Blue On Black," Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Trouble Is...
"Paris (Ooh La La)," Grace Potter & The Nocturnals (self-titled album)
"Hallelujah," K.D. Lang (several versions of Leonard Cohen's song)
"E.T.," Katy Perry, Teenage Dream
"(What Did I Do To Be So) Black And Blue?", Louis Armstrong, Louis Armstrong: Hot Fives & Sevens
"Summertime" (From "Porgy and Bess"), Artie Shaw and His Orchestra, The Centennial Collection (Remastered)
Albums
Peace Love Ukulele, Jake Shimabukuro
Live at Les Joulins Jazz Bistro, Jazz Nostalgia featuring Bill "DOC" Webster
Ukulele Method Book 1
Metasexual, Joydrop
Born This Way, Lady Gaga
Deggial, Therion
Happy Feet soundtrack
Happy Birthday, Duke! (5-disc set), Duke Ellington
Piano Starts Here, Art Tatum & Zenph Studios
Especially Interesting Mash-Ups
In The Mood For Some Killing [Glenn Miller & His Orchestra vs. Rage Against The Machine]
Alice In Boogie Wonderland [Earth, Wind & Fire vs. Alice Cooper]
Ain't No Stairway High Enough to Hip Hop Heaven [Led Zeppelin vs. Gramatik vs. Marvin Gaye]
Magnatune albums downloaded
Daniel Bautista, Weirdos and Classics; 15
Davide Viterbo, Distant City
Colin Booth, Buxtehude: Suites and Variations; Dark Harpischord Music
Maneli Jamal, The Ziur Movement
Where's Moo, Dear Friend Dopamine (instrumental version)
The Young Werewolves, Sins of the Past
Osamu Kitajima and Chris Mancinelli, Beyond the Circle
Ernesto Schnack, A Work in Progress
Sweet Teen Killing Machine (self-titled)
Werner Durand, Vibrating Air Columns
Alan Marchand, Mojo Trippin'; Romantic Piano: R&R
CrimsonFaced, Captain Freak (instrumental)
La Reverie, Ancient Mosaid with Guitar
Toni Iñiguez, Rain Trip
Collection Get, Save As
Psycliq, The Mathemagician's Riddle
Anonymph, Terrarium
Vito Paternoster, Inzaffirio
Sound of Seventy Three, The Way We Feel
Eleanor Hodgkinson, Scenes of Travel
Angelight, Tantrabeats 1: The Space of the Body
Joey Fehrenbach, Mellowdrama
Burning Babylon, Knives to the Treble
Beat Under Control, Cosmic Repackage
Lydia McCauley, Sabbath Day's Journey
Ambient Teknology, Electro Retro
David Gilden, Jato the Lion
Anton Cosmo, A Beautiful Chaos
Gopal, Mystic Journey: Ancient Sounds of the Diruba
Tatiana Kochkareva, Moments
John Holowach, Elements
Paper Books and eBooks
Karl Schroeder, Lady of Mazes
Walter Mosley, Walkin’ the Dog; The Wave
Ken Grimwood, Replay
S.J. Day, “Eve of Sin City”; Eve of Darkness; Eve of Destruction
Barbara Ehrenreich, Bright-sided
Seanan McGuire, Rosemary and Rue (October Daye #1); A Local Habitation (October Daye #2)
Laurie R. King, Monstrous Regiment of Women (Mary Russell #2)
Erving Goffman, Stigma
Judi Dench, And Furthermore
Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman, The Fall of the Kings
Ken Belson and Brian Bremner, Hello Kitty: The Remarkable Story of Sanrio and the Billion Dollar Feline Phenomenon
Judith Kohlberg and Kathleen Nadeau, Add-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life
Laurell K. Hamilton, Hit List (Anita Blake #20)
Annie Cheney, Body Brokers: Inside America's Underground Trade in Human Remains
Thomas Sniegoski, A Kiss Before the Apocalypse (Remy Chandler #1)
Sally Mitchell, Daily Life in Victorian England
Jeff Chang, Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation
Nnendi Okorafor, Zahrah the Windseeker
Michael Chabon, Yiddish Policeman's Union
Lois McMaster Bujold, Diplomatic Immunity; Cryoburn
Nathaniel Philbrick, Why Read Moby Dick?
Jo Walton, Among Others
Cally Hall, Gemstones; Antoinette Matlins, Colored Gemstones: The Antoinette Matlins Buying Guide; Judith Crowe, The Jeweler's Directory of Gemstones
Audio Books
Scott Lynch, Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard #1); Red Seas Under Red Skies (Gentleman Bastard #2)
William Somerset Maugham, Short Stories of William Somerset Maugham, Volume 1
Eleanor Updale, Montmorency
Terry Pratchett, Monstrous Regiment
John Varley, Press Enter
Isaac Asimov, The End of Eternity
Andrea Camilleri, The Snack Thief (Inspector Montalbano #3); Excursion to Tindari (Inspector Montalbano #5); The Smell of the Night (Inspector Montalbano #6); Rounding the Mark (Inspector Montalbano #7); The Patience of the Spider (Inspector Montalbano #8)
Jeaniene Frost, Halfway to the Grave (Night Huntress #1); One Foot in the Grave (Night Huntress #2)
Ilona Andrews, Magic Bites (Kate Daniels #1); Magic Burns (Kate Daniels #2)
Ian Fleming, Goldfinger; Quantum of Solace
Julie Kagawa, The Iron King
Alexander McCall Smith, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
Betsey Dexter Dyer, Unseen Diversity: The World of Bacteria (Lecture series);
Charlaine Harris, Grave Sight (Harper Connelly #1); Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse #1)
Simon Brett, Dead Side of the Mike (Charles Paris #5)
Kim Harrison, Dead Witch Walking
Robert Wittman, Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures
Agatha Christie, The Secret of Chimneys; The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Poirot #1); Murder at the Vicarage (Miss Marple #1)
Gail Carriger, Soulless (Alexia Tarabotti #1)
Walter Mosley, Fear of the Dark (Fearless Jones #3); Black Betty (Easy Rawlins, #3)
William Gibson, Count Zero (Sprawl trilogy #2)
Pearl S. Buck, The Good Earth
Herman Melville, "Billy Budd"
Deborah Blum, The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
Michael Innes, Appleby's End (Appleby #10)
John Mortimer, Rumpole of the Bailey; Rumpole's Last Case & Other Stories
Richard Adams, Watership Down
James A. Owen, Here There Be Dragons (Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica #1)
Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse
Naomi Novik, His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire #1)
Ursula K. Le Guin, City of Illusions
Baroness Orkzy, The Scarlet Pimpernel
Sara Gruen, Water for Elephants
Alexandre Dumas, The Three Musketeers
M. Lee Alexander, Modern Scholar: Detective Fiction from Victorian Sleuths to the Present Lecture series
Hal Clement, Needle
Kurt Vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan
M. John Harrison, Nova Swing
Rex Stout, Not Quite Dead Enough
Sam Kean, The Disappearing Spoon
Oliver Sacks, Awakenings
Octavia Butler, Wild Seed
Alex Haley, Roots
Amir D. Aczel, Present at the Creation: The Story of CERN
Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone
DVDs/Movies/TV
Terry Jones’ Medieval Lives (8-episode TV documentary)
Terry Jones: Gladiators: The Brutal Truth (documentary)
Hogan’s Heroes (TV series)
Star Trek: “Who Mourns for Adonais?”
Storm (movie)
Pirate Radio (movie)
Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo (24-episode anime)
Shaguna no Shana (episodic anime)
Life on Mars (UK version, 2-season TV series)
Bach & Friends (movie-length documentary)
Black Jack (short anime series)
Flyboys (movie)
Samurai Champloo (anime series)
Terminator: Salvation (movie)
Ken Burns's Jazz (multi-episode documentary)
Being Julia (movie)
The Departed (movie)
Playing Shakespeare (multi-episode acting workshop)
Keeping Mum (movie)
Ofelas (Pathfinder) (movie)
The Virgin Suicides (movie)
Blues Brothers (movie)
How to Train Your Dragon (animated movie)
The Wire, season 1 (TV series)
Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman (movie)
Two Fat Ladies (multi-season TV cooking show)
Happy Feet (animated movie)
Fafner in the Azure (multi-episode anime)
Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Swedish movie)
Ponyo (animated movie)
Sarah Connor Chronicles (TV series; we haven't finished watching it yet)
Stranger Than Fiction (movie)
Columbo (original TV movie series)
Mississippi Masala (movie)
African Queen (Hepburn/Bogart movie)
Sita Sings the Blues (animated movie)
Notes on a Scandal (movie)
Dreamgirls (movie)
Metropia (animated movie)
Les Triplettes de Belleville (animated movie)
La Femme Nikita (original movie)
Megamind (animated movie)
Lost (we got through the first 4 episodes and gave up)
Hugo (movie)
Chopped (Food Network show)
Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives (Food Network show)
The A-Team (original TV series)
Pan's Labyrinth (movie)
The Prisoner (origina 1960s tv series)
Music purchased
Songs/Collections
"The Cat Food Song," Robin Radus (on Youtube)
Cat food, without any warning"I'm Shipping Up to Boston," Dropkick Murphys, from The Departed (Music from the Motion Picture)
Cat food, at three in the morning
Cat food, the neverending story
Cat food, the power and the glory
Chart Sweep, Parts 1-2, compiled by Hugo Keesing
"Two Against One," Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi
"Blue On Black," Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Trouble Is...
"Paris (Ooh La La)," Grace Potter & The Nocturnals (self-titled album)
"Hallelujah," K.D. Lang (several versions of Leonard Cohen's song)
"E.T.," Katy Perry, Teenage Dream
"(What Did I Do To Be So) Black And Blue?", Louis Armstrong, Louis Armstrong: Hot Fives & Sevens
"Summertime" (From "Porgy and Bess"), Artie Shaw and His Orchestra, The Centennial Collection (Remastered)
Albums
Peace Love Ukulele, Jake Shimabukuro
Live at Les Joulins Jazz Bistro, Jazz Nostalgia featuring Bill "DOC" Webster
Ukulele Method Book 1
Metasexual, Joydrop
Born This Way, Lady Gaga
Deggial, Therion
Happy Feet soundtrack
Happy Birthday, Duke! (5-disc set), Duke Ellington
Piano Starts Here, Art Tatum & Zenph Studios
Especially Interesting Mash-Ups
In The Mood For Some Killing [Glenn Miller & His Orchestra vs. Rage Against The Machine]
Alice In Boogie Wonderland [Earth, Wind & Fire vs. Alice Cooper]
Ain't No Stairway High Enough to Hip Hop Heaven [Led Zeppelin vs. Gramatik vs. Marvin Gaye]
Magnatune albums downloaded
Daniel Bautista, Weirdos and Classics; 15
Davide Viterbo, Distant City
Colin Booth, Buxtehude: Suites and Variations; Dark Harpischord Music
Maneli Jamal, The Ziur Movement
Where's Moo, Dear Friend Dopamine (instrumental version)
The Young Werewolves, Sins of the Past
Osamu Kitajima and Chris Mancinelli, Beyond the Circle
Ernesto Schnack, A Work in Progress
Sweet Teen Killing Machine (self-titled)
Werner Durand, Vibrating Air Columns
Alan Marchand, Mojo Trippin'; Romantic Piano: R&R
CrimsonFaced, Captain Freak (instrumental)
La Reverie, Ancient Mosaid with Guitar
Toni Iñiguez, Rain Trip
Collection Get, Save As
Psycliq, The Mathemagician's Riddle
Anonymph, Terrarium
Vito Paternoster, Inzaffirio
Sound of Seventy Three, The Way We Feel
Eleanor Hodgkinson, Scenes of Travel
Angelight, Tantrabeats 1: The Space of the Body
Joey Fehrenbach, Mellowdrama
Burning Babylon, Knives to the Treble
Beat Under Control, Cosmic Repackage
Lydia McCauley, Sabbath Day's Journey
Ambient Teknology, Electro Retro
David Gilden, Jato the Lion
Anton Cosmo, A Beautiful Chaos
Gopal, Mystic Journey: Ancient Sounds of the Diruba
Tatiana Kochkareva, Moments
John Holowach, Elements
no subject
Date: 3 Jan 2012 02:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Jan 2012 05:12 am (UTC)I'm glad I read the Ehrenreich; it solidified my thinking on some trends I'd already noticed. (Especially the tendency for some people to suggest that you should appreciate the bad things that happen to you because they might change you for the better. I agree that bad things might change you, and some of the changes might be for the better. But I think it's quite enough to appreciate the changes and still think the bad things suck.) She has some very good criticisms of positive thinking, and I found interesting her history of positive thinking and its ties in with Calvinism.
But I think the book should also be read with a salt shaker nearby. For example, there's a chapter where she takes on Martin Seligman's latest optimism work. On the one hand, it's hilarious. On the other hand, her criticism oversimplifies his position. I also think she takes her thesis about positive thinking too far; e.g., I don't buy that positive thinking is primarily responsible for the recent economic collapse. Also I believe that some attention to shifting one's habitual thought patterns is useful, but Ehrenreich comes close to dismissing the whole notion. I think that throws out some babies with the bath water.
no subject
Date: 3 Jan 2012 05:06 am (UTC)I have watched The Wire all the way through twice and think it is wonderful. I have seen some of Treme, but bit by bit - I like the way David Simon et al do love songs to troubled cities and I wish they would do Detroit.
I have read the Dragon Tattoo books, but I am reluctant to see the movies although my friends tell me the Swedish ones are great, because I have a low tolerance for intense violence in video and audio. If I see the movies it will be on my computer with other stuff going on.
no subject
Date: 3 Jan 2012 05:21 am (UTC)I love Among Others to little bitty pieces.
We plan to watch the rest of The Wire, and Treme is also on our queue but won't percolate to the top for another couple of years. (Our Netflix queue is ridiculous.) I would LOVE if they did Detroit!!!! (I grew up there.)
I am OK with violence in movies if I know it's going to be there, so I don't have any advice on that.
no subject
Date: 3 Jan 2012 07:02 am (UTC)I've heard her speak about that, and I instantly thought of you.
Seanan McGuire, Rosemary and Rue (October Daye #1); A Local Habitation (October Daye #2)
Thoughts? She's the partner of a friend of ours, as you know, and one of our mutual friends says she isn't a very good writer, but I like her and should probably buy her books just on principle, but haven't yet.
Jo Walton, Among Others
So many of my friends have loved this one that I really must get it and read it.
Walter Mosley Black Betty (Easy Rawlins, #3)
I liked the language in this more than I did the story. And the cultural education. Books are my main source of race-101 stuff.
Ursula K. Le Guin, City of Illusions
Besides a few shorts, I've never read Le Guin, and I know that's scandalous. Suggestions for a first read?
Octavia Butler, Wild Seed
Just bought this yesterday. Will tell you how I like it.
Pan's Labyrinth (movie)
Such a difficult and beautiful film.
no subject
Date: 3 Jan 2012 08:25 am (UTC)Based on the two I've read, I like her characterization best; her writing is serviceable but not beautiful; the plots of the ones I read were too predictable, but I got a sense that the overall storyline might be going somewhere interesting.
I liked the language in this more than I did the story. And the cultural education. Books are my main source of race-101 stuff.
Yep. The Socrates Fortlow books have less formulaic plots than the Easy Rawlins books.
Besides a few shorts, I've never read Le Guin, and I know that's scandalous. Suggestions for a first read?
Depends, she writes a wide range of stuff. Do you like short stories, YA, fantasy, dystopia, political intrigue, anthropology, or what? (
no subject
Date: 3 Jan 2012 01:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Jan 2012 06:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Jan 2012 01:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Jan 2012 01:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Jan 2012 06:24 pm (UTC)Influential mid-20th-century literary science fiction: Kurt Vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan. Narrator Jay Snyder. (I don't recommend Snyder in general, but his style works well for this book.)
Historical fantasy, with themes of power relationships, long-term planning: Octavia Butler, Wild Seed. Narrator Dion Graham, who's really talented.
One thing I particularly like in audio fiction is to listen to a long series with a single narrator who really gets some of the characters. If that seems like it would be enjoyable, I recommend Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe series, narrated by Michael Prichard.
The Cat Food Song
Date: 19 Jan 2012 05:21 pm (UTC)Best,
Robin
Re: The Cat Food Song
Date: 19 Jan 2012 06:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Jan 2012 01:55 am (UTC)I like the Harper Connelly books a lot, and need to go check again and see if there are more than 3 of them. I like everything Harris writes except for the Sookie Stackhouse books (and yes, I realize that I'm pretty much alone in this opinion) and strongly recommend any of her other books as well -- she has at least one other series and a couple of stand-alones.
Of Christie, I find Poirot much more compatible with my interests than Miss Marple. But some of them have really glaring and annoying plot holes. I also tend to prefer the stories in which Hastings does not appear, because he's such a twit.
Needle is good; I found its sequel, Through the Eye of a Needle to be less satisfying.
no subject
Date: 3 Jan 2012 04:46 am (UTC)Toby Daye #1 and #2 were both too predictable for me, but it's good to know that #2 is the worst; I might try #3 on that basis.
I liked Sookie #1 but I think I wouldn't be able to tolerate large doses of that character.
I agree that Hastings is a twit, and I'm not sure I like Christie's technique of using narrators who are unaware of their own stupidity.
I liked Needle but not as well as I've liked other Clement.
no subject
Date: 7 Jan 2012 07:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 7 Jan 2012 09:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Jan 2012 07:00 pm (UTC)