Thursday, March 16, 2017

The books wot I have been reading

I've just finished reading Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow. It was a bit of an effort.

I started it while sitting overnight with Uncle but that didn't work. I quickly realised it was going to be a 'have-to-concentrate' book so I waited until afterwards to carry on. By that time I'd forgotten who all the characters were. I persevered but eventually went back to the beginning.

The trouble is that it's set in Greenland/Denmark and the names are unfamiliar but with effort I managed to keep up with and vaguely understand the plot. Then about halfway through the action moved from shore to on-board ship and that was the end of any hope for me of knowing what was going on. 

The entire cast of characters changed completely and ship language was used, which along with all the Greenlandic phrases and descriptions of snow and ice left me drowning. But I was determined to finish it because there was a mystery that I wanted to see resolved.

So it is rather unfortunate that I've now reached the end and it's not really any clearer. 

Ah well, Daughter bought it for me and wants to read it so maybe she can explain it to me later.

Meanwhile I've started on one of my library books, Real Murders, the first in the Aurora Teagarden series by Charlaine Harris (? I think). I am fairly sure I've read it before but I have no idea whodunnit so I'll carry on. It's light and insubstantial and I need a bit of that after Miss Smilla.

Before that I read a Philippa Gregory historical novel called Three Sisters, Three Queens. I've mostly enjoyed Gregory's novels but found this one disappointing. The narrator, Margaret, the sister of Henry VIII, isn't appealing and, in a way, very little happens. That is, a lot happens but it's mostly too-ing and fro-ing and changing allegiances and vying for power and wealth.

Oh yes and I read Bridget Jones's Baby. More of a novella than a full length novel it's very flimsy and much as you would expect. Entertaining in its way but nothing much has changed. A nice little earner for Helen Fielding without much effort. Ooh, that sounds bitchy!

4 comments:

nick said...

I read Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow many years ago, and I seem to remember getting pretty lost as well. Too many authors seem to delight in making their plots as labyrinthine as possible - not to mention half a dozen equally tangled sub-plots. I just don't have the memory to keep on top of it all. I usually end up concentrating on the most interesting character and hopefully at least keeping track of her/his part of the story.

Beside a babbling brook... said...

Too involved plot lines and too many characters, and I am gone. ,-) I don't read, to work. I want an understandable story line, please and thank you.

And really enjoy a cute little cozy, to follow a heavier book. Which sounds quite logical, to me. :-)

Actually, I enjoy many types of reads. Some YA. Some for younger, even. I enjoy some para-normal, also. Love certain books, about the Fae! But no dystopian. And no lots of brutal stuff.

Bits of this and that.....

Luna Crone

Ole Phat Stu said...

You can read the surface story (sic!) as a thriller, or go down to a deeper level
and read about Denmark's curious post-colonial history. Both are confusing ;-)

Liz Hinds said...

The main character was interesting, Nick, but she kept appearing as someone other than I'd imagined her, if that makes any sense.

Yes, Luna, I like YA too but not para-normal.

Stu, it wasn't particularly thrilling though. But, yes, the history, even fairly recent history, was fascinating.