"Thursday Evenings"

"Thursday Evenings"
by E.F. Benson


Synopsis:
In this amusing ghost story, a persistent spirit keeps the Victorian Golden Age alive from beyond the grave.


My Reaction:
I found this little ghost story a pleasant read.  The touches of humor were a reminder that this is the same author who penned the Lucia series. 

I looked up "The Lost Chord" on YouTube out of curiosity.  I guess it's okay, but I don't hear anything in it that would inspire someone to make it her "calling card" song.  (I prefer a stronger, more repetitive melody.  This hymn kind of wanders all over the place.)


Sidenote:
This is the first thing I read from start to finish on my new Kindle Paperwhite!  (I'm also reading The Provincial Lady Goes Further on it, but I'd already read over 70% of that one before switching devices.) 

Diary of a Nobody

Diary of a Nobody, by George & Weedon Grossmith

(Also published as The Diary of a Nobody.)

"'The Diary Of A Nobody' began as a serial in 'Punch' and the book which followed in 1892 has never been out of print. The Grossmith brothers not only created an immortal comic character but produced a clever satire of their society. Mr Pooter is an office clerk and upright family man in a dull 1880s suburb. His diary is a wonderful portrait of the class system and the inherent snobbishness of the suburban middle classes. It sends up contemporary crazes for Aestheticism, spiritualism and bicycling, as well as the fashion for publishing diaries by anybody and everybody."

Well, that blurb just about covers it.  This was a "read aloud" book and suffered slightly in my estimation from my expectation that it would be even shorter than it was, the length being the deciding factor in my choice of it over a couple of other titles.

I went in hoping for something in the style of P.G. Wodehouse, and this faux diary is humorous-- but it offered fewer laugh-out-loud moments than a Jeeves and Wooster novel.  However, it's also more realistic and relatable, perhaps, as the main character is a middle class working man rather than the independently wealthy Bertie Wooster, whose whole life seems to be a series of vacations abroad or to various country estates. 

In short, this isn't one I'm planning to re-read obsessively, but it was nice for a once-through.  Gentle, friendly humor and full of reminders that that more things change, the more they stay the same.

Note:  We were reading an Amazon freebie e-book version on the Kindle.  It's still available for free, but be warned that the free e-versions do not include the original illustrations (or any illustrations at all, in fact).  I'm not sure how much we missed through the absence of those illustrations-- but not enough to make them worth paying for, I think.  If I read the book and loved it, then maybe I'd consider finding a nicer copy for next time.

Death at Wentwater Court

Death at Wentwater Court, by Carola Dunn
(audiobook read by Bernadette Dunne)

Hm.  I begin to suspect that I may be too harsh a critic... This was another case of "not bad, but not great... and only mildly good".  It's a very light, fluffy mystery with a romantic subplot (which will clearly be carried over into subsequent books in the series).  The bad guys are very, very bad (irredeemable), and (most of) the good guys are just too good to be true (sickeningly so, at times).  Daisy herself strikes me as a little Mary Sue-ish.  She's "cursed" with one of those faces that inspire confidences, so of course everyone tells her his/her life story with hardly a moment's hesitation.  (If this is going to be a "thing" in this series, it's going to get old fast.  In fact, it was already old, by the middle of this book.)  I'm a bit disappointed; I'd been looking forward to this series (possibly based on the name "Daisy Dalrymple" alone), and now I find it merely "alright".  Still, if you like British-style mysteries set (if not written) between the wars, this is probably worth a look.  I'll likely give another book or two a try in the hope that the author was just finding her feet with this first entry in the series.

As I noted above, I listened to the audiobook version-- and yet again we have the narrator "doing voices".  She was decent on the women's voices, I guess... Though her Annabel got on my nerves, that might've been the character's fault as much as the narrator's whispery rendition.  Overall, I didn't like her intonation, much of the time, with sentences ended on a raised inflection that I think should usually be reserved for questions. Then there was the way she pronounced "pater"-- like "patter" instead of "pay-ter".  Evidently, that is an accepted pronunciation, but I don't approve-- and since it was in the prologue, it started us off on a bad foot.  Oh well.  I'm picky about audiobook narrators, it seems.  (What a shock.)

Side Note:
This was another library check-out.  This was the first time I've tried listening to an audiobook on the Kindle (as opposed to the computer or MP3-player) from start to finish.  If I wasn't careful, I'd return to resume listening only to find that the Kindle had forgotten my place in the audio file-- and it's a true pain to find your place again when you can only skip ahead 30 seconds at a time in an hour-long clip.  (The book was broken into six pieces each of approximately 60-75 minutes.)  At first, I wasn't sure what was going on (and still am not, entirely), because one time the Kindle would remember my spot just fine, then the next time it would have taken me back to the beginning of the clip.  I think I've figured out that to ensure my spot is bookmarked, I have to pause the file, then go back to the home screen of the Kindle before putting the device to sleep.  If I just pause it without returning to the home screen, the Kindle forgets my spot.  It's weird, and I can't figure out why it works that way-- fortunately, I've never had that issue with a regular e-book-- but for whatever reason, that seems to be the situation.  It's not a big deal, so long as I remember to pause and hit the "home" key before shutting down.

A Child Called "It"

A Child Called "It": One Child's Courage to Survive, by Dave Pelzer



First things first:  I really only selected this title because I wanted to try out the newly available feature of checking out Kindle-format e-books from public libraries.  (Please note that not all libraries offer this service... yet.)  Honestly, I had a little trouble finding a title I really wanted to read that was currently available, and the Overdrive search engine leaves something to be desired, but assuming you can find a book you want to read that's not already checked out... and is in the Kindle format... it's a very quick and easy process.  With just a few clicks (after signing in with your library card number and PIN), you're ready to turn on your Kindle's wireless and load the library e-book just as quickly and painlessly as you load any book through Amazon. 

So, I chose this book because it was available for instant download and was in the Kindle format.  It's not the type of book I usually read, and it's not the kind of book I think I want to read very often-- but that said, it was compelling enough that I finished it in one day.  (And I'm not usually a finish-a-book-in-one-day kind of person, because I tend to prefer to read in smaller chunks of time.  This book's short though.  Speed-readers probably zoom through this one in an hour or so.)

There may be spoilers to come, so read at your own risk.

This book is purportedly a non-fictional, firsthand account of a child's experiences in an abusive household.  It's not what I would describe as "well written" (though I've certainly read worse), but with such a shocking story-- from a child's perspective-- simplicity is perhaps best.

It's difficult to believe that someone-- and a child, at that-- actually endured years of such treatment.  It's impossible to understand how anyone could do such things to any innocent creature-- much less her own child (in the case of the mother)-- or how someone could stand by and not intervene in any significant way (in the case of the father).

We are asked to believe that "it wasn't always like this"-- that there were "good years" before the author's mother became an abusive (more than abusive-- demented, torturous) alcoholic-- years in which his mother was the Brady Bunch ideal mom.  I have trouble accepting that.  Oh, I can believe that's how a child might remember it... but... I just don't see how that can happen.  I can't believe a person can just turn that completely evil-- not even with alcohol and marital problems.  The only way I can buy that is if his mother developed some form of insanity.

This isn't a recent publication (it's from 1995), and apparently there has been controversy surrounding the legitimacy of Dave Pelzer's story-- if not over the basic fact that he was abused as a child, then over the degree of abuse and the details he recounts.  I'll admit, several times while I read, I wondered... I felt a little guilty for doing so, because I know abuse exists, but some of it was so outlandish...  It reminded me at times of Sybil (definitely one of those books I almost wish I hadn't read, so I wouldn't have some of those images in my head)-- another work of non-fiction that seems too awful to have been completely true.

In any case, however much veracity there is in this book, at least it does offer a positive message.  (The reader's reward for suffering through the second-hand horribleness?)  Despite the stomach-turning awfulness of David's experiences, he manages to survive and achieve the kind of life he always wanted-- one full of love and warmth.  I appreciate the "moral" that no matter what anyone does to you-- no matter what happens to you--  you don't have to let it determine who you will be or how you will live your life going forth.  It's a powerful and uplifting statement-- especially if coming from someone who faced such darkness during his formative years.  ...I think I've gotten the message, though.  There's no need for me to read the two subsequent entries in this trilogy.

Unexpectedly Fun & Useful Kindle Features

(This "review" stretches the purpose of this blog a bit, but it's a related topic.)

When I bought my Kindle, I didn't expect to use it for anything other than reading (duh) and possibly viewing a PDF of a crochet pattern now and then.  But of course, Kindle* can do more. 

There's the (somewhat limited) web browser.  At this point, I haven't used that feature since the first week I got the device.  (It could come in handy, someday, but at its current level of usability, it's really more for "emergencies".  If you have access to a real computer or tablet, you'll want to use that instead.) 

Then there's the ability of the Kindle to play mp3 files-- whether you want to listen to music while you read (no thanks, too distracting) or an audio book.  Mp3 files eat up space on the Kindle pretty quickly and for that reason (and others) I prefer to use a good old-fashioned ;o) mp3-player for most of my listening.  However, if you don't have an mp3-player or just don't want to lug around another gadget, hey, at least it's possible to use Kindle for music and audio books. 

One feature that I have used more than I thought likely is text-to-speech.  The text-to-speech function has been disabled on some books (thanks to certain publishers), but for those that allow it, you can sit back and listen to your book for a while-- very nice when you need to rest your eyes, turn off the light, walk from place to place, exercise, crochet, etc., but want to keep the story going.  It's a computerized voice, so it's not nearly on the same level as a true audio book, where you have a recording of a real person reading with natural inflection and emotion.  Still, the listenability is much better than you might imagine; clearly, this technology has made some significant strides in the past several years.  (Search YouTube for examples, if you're interested.)  Some books (or writing styles) seem to translate to "speech" better than others.  You have the choice of a male or a female voice and three reading speeds, and of course you can plug in headphones / earbuds if you don't want to disturb those around you. 

Another unexpected development in my Kindle usage has been my interest in some of the games available for play on the device.  My favorites at the moment are Thread Words and Jigsaw Words (some of which is almost too easy for adults, but is still fun).  There are a few other free word games-- Every Word, Every Word Crossings, Shuffled Row-- but there are also other types of games available for free--  Blackjack, Pixel Perfect Puzzles, Number Slide, Dots and Boxes, Minesweeper, Video Poker, etc.  (And if you're willing to pay for a game, there are many to choose from starting at 99 cents each.)  I'd forgotten how much I enjoy word games.  The only downside is that now I'm addicted to Jigsaw Words, to the point that I'm not making any progress in my reading.  (g)  Well, I've nearly solved all those puzzles, so I'll be forced to go back to the book.

...So that's why I'm taking my time with my current read.  Every time I should be reading a page or two, I'm playing Jigsaw Words instead.   ;o)


*I'm writing about the WiFi Kindle 3.  Some of this may not apply to other versions of the Kindle.