Monday Malarkey

Recent arrivals (bottom to top because I wrote the titles before I took the picture):

• The Gentleman and the Thief by Sarah M. Eden - from Laurel Ann at Austenprose for tour
• Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac - total impulse purchase
• The Widow of Pale Harbor by Hester Fox - Sent by friend (borrowed)
• Jonesy Flux and the Gray Legion by James Pray - from Sterling Children's Books for review
• 3096 Days in Captivity by Natascha Kampusch - purchased 

The purchase of 3096 Days in Captivity is an unusual one because I am soooo not into true crime, but it's a story I've got a personal interest in for reasons I'll share when I review it. I've already started writing about that interest, although I won't get around to reading 3096 Days till I finish the other two nonfic titles I'm reading. Everything else . . . well, this is a fun variety, isn't it? Jonesy Flux is middle grade; The Widow of Pale Harbor is by the author of The Witch of Willow Hall, which I loved, so it should be another good fall read. I can't explain Code Talker. "If you've read this you'll like that," type of thing, I think. I usually try to ignore those recommendations because they haven't worked for me at all. I prefer getting recommendations from friends and through reading reviews. 

Books finished since last Malarkey:

• All the Buildings in London: That I've Drawn So Far by James Gulliver Hancock
• Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
• Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (e-book)
• Matrimony, Inc. by Francesca Beauman
• The Gentleman and the Thief by Sarah M. Eden

Currently reading:

• The Day the World Came to Town by Jim DeFede
• The Great Influenza by John M. Barry

I just finished The Gentleman and the Thief, so I haven't yet chosen my next fiction read. I'll have to wander around, picking up books and considering. The two that remain, both nonfiction, have been waiting for me to return to them, all week. I started The Day the World Came to Town and was enjoying it so much that I could have finished it the next day but . . . maybe this is weird . . . it's so important to me to get everything I read into my end-of-month photo that I didn't want to finish a second e-book in the month of October. I can only put up the cover of one e-book by propping my reader next to the stack of paper books. So, I set it aside and will return to it shortly. And, I didn't read a single page of The Great Influenza, but it's an easy one to pick up after a gap of a couple days or a week or a month, so no biggie if a couple weeks pass between readings. I'm strongly considering Jonesy Flux or Earthlings for my next read, but I haven't wandered amongst my stacks yet. We shall see. 

Posts since last Malarkey:

• In Persuasion Nation by George Saunders (book review)
• Mini reviews - The People Speak, ed. by H. Zinn, Cat Knit by Jacob Grant, and Writers and Lovers by Lily King (book reviews)
• The Witch of Willow Hall by Hester Fox (book review)
• Fiona Friday - Peek (cat photo)
• Slade House by David Mitchell (book review)
• The Wreck by Meg Keneally (book review)
• Matrimony, Inc. by Francesca Beauman (book review)
• Fiona Friday (cat photo)

In other news:

We're streaming more movies and series than normal and I've seen some commercials indicating that my favorite weekly shows are about to return. Yippee! 

Avenue 5 is a series we're streaming daily (one episode per day -- Huz can't stand binge-watching). It is without a doubt the worst thing Hugh Laurie has ever done. At least, that's our humble opinion and we've been Laurie and Fry fans since the Jeeves and Wooster series. Having said that, we're enjoying it, nonetheless. When we started watching Avenue 5, I said it felt like a sitcom, not a sci-fi and Huz told me to hang in there, it improves. Nothing had happened, at that point. But, then it became interesting.

Avenue 5 is the name of a travel spaceship that has a gravity problem. It goes off its normal trajectory, which will add years to its journey home to Earth. It's only supposed to be an 8-week trip. And, Hugh Laurie plays a fake captain. The real captain is unfortunately killed when the gravity problem is corrected. 

Seriously, Avenue 5 is so stupid. But, it's just the right kind of stupid, occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, often squirmy uncomfortable but in a way that makes you smile. 

I particularly love the fact that Laurie plays an actor playing a captain and pretending to be American but occasionally screwing up and switching back to his British accent. 

Vintage Roads Great & Small is a travel show that Huzzybuns discovered on Acorn. Peter Davison and Christopher Timothy are the stars and if you've ever seen the original All Creatures Great and Small, you know they were among the 4 main characters. Timothy played James Herriot and Davison played Siegfried Farnon's reckless and carefree younger brother, Tristan, Siegfried being the owner of the veterinary clinic. We watched the original when it showed on PBS in the 80s and then again and again in reruns. And, we're Dr. Who fans, but we thought Davison was one of the worst Doctors, sorry Peter. 

Anyway, each episode shows a different road trip in a classic car. They make stops to visit with the owners of other classic automobiles (and take a ride in them), have a picnic by the side of the road, spend the night or have a drink at interesting locations, and do a bit of hiking to historical sites. It is so good and their Britishness so fully on display with all the quirks and humor that I think it may be the first show that I've ever stayed entirely silent throughout. I try not to be but I'm annoyingly chatty while watching TV. I highly recommend this series if you have access to Acorn or some other platform where it can be viewed. 

I opted to skip my PBS shows on Sunday because I just didn't feel like watching TV. Hopefully, I'll be able to catch up on them (if PBS offers them for streaming) and get back to viewing at the regular time, next week. 

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

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