Trivia ➙ she dated her Bohemian Rhapsody co-star Rami Malek from 2017 to 2023.
The book is a non-Marple, non-Poirot Christie, which gives the writer adapting it some freedom.
The mystery hinges on the cryptic question of the title – why didn’t they ask Evans? – pronounced by a dying man, after a fall from the cliffs on a north Wales golf course.
Bobby and his friend Lady Frances Derwent have adventures as they solve the mystery of the man’s last words.
The three-part series became available on BritBox on April 2022.
The Exchange (2023) — Grisham’s 49th book — is supposed to be a sequel to The Firm (1991) — his 2nd book — but can certainly be read as a stand alone novel.
I liked the book, as always, but it’s — perhaps — not as good as most of the rest.
The big issue ➙ whether or not to pay kidnappers.
Mitch and Abby are living in Manhattan, where Mitch is a partner at the largest law firm in the world.
When a mentor in Rome asks him for a favor that will take him far from home, Mitch finds himself at the center of a sinister plot that has worldwide implications—and once again endangers his colleagues, friends, and family.
Mitch has become a master at staying one step ahead of his adversaries, but this time there’s nowhere to hide.
The drama is not legal, but financial, after Giovanna Sandroni, an Italian / British associate, has been kidnapped in Libya and is being held for a $100 million ransom by some murderous villains. This is in the era of dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
After being fired from her job as a lab tech, chemist Elizabeth Zott uses her new job hosting a 1950s TV cooking show titled Supper at Six to educate housewives on scientific topics.
Alice Halsey as daughter Madeline “Mad” Zott is perfect.
I liked the show so much I downloaded Lessons in Chemistry, the novel by Bonnie Garmus (2022).
Stephanie Merritt of The Guardian praised the author’s ability in creating a “richly comic novel around a character who is entirely deadpan” …
Elisabeth Egan called the book “irresistible, satisfying and full of fuel” and claimed that “feminism is the catalyst” …
Michael Byers from Cascadia Daily News wrote that the “heroine is brave, original and completely unafraid” …
The debut novel was a hit when published 2022.
A brilliant idea, I feel. In an era when ReTrumplicans want to go back to the 1950s — this book reveals how unfairly women were treated in the not-so-distant past.
When they say MAGA — the Great Again was this era of American history when women and minorities were treated so badly. For me, MAGA = racist. MAGA = sexist.
A highlight of the book is the dog Six-Thirty. And that’s well done in the show, as well.
All of the changes made from book to screen were for the better, I feel.
Aja Naomi King as Harriet Sloane is a much more interesting friend / neighbour on TV than in the novel.
Another charming British novel with an elderly heroine.
The Marlow Murder Club (2021) focuses on a group of older women who form a club to investigate a series of killings in Marlow.
It was published in January 2021 to overwhelmingly positive reviews. … The second book in the series, Death Comes to Marlow, was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe award for Best Cosy Crime novel published in the USA in 2022.
… Set in late Raj India, The Sleeping Dictionary tells the story of a young peasant girl, who makes her way to Calcutta and is caught between the raging independence movement and the British colonial society she finds herself inhabiting. …
While the term “sleeping dictionary” was originally coined for young women who slept with Europeans and educated them in the ways of India, Kamala turns the tables on the colonial establishment, using her talents for readings languages and men to work for India’s independence. …
There’s a Hollywood film with the same name and theme — The Sleeping Dictionary — from 2003.
Thursday Murder Club are British pensioners living in a retirement village who solve murders as a hobby.
Quite humorous. Very insightful regarding elderly life in the U.K.
Shocking news reaches them—an old friend has been killed, and a dangerous package he was protecting has gone missing.
The gang’s search leads them into the antiques business, where the tricks of the trade are as old as the objects themselves. As they encounter drug dealers, art forgers, and online fraudsters—as well as heartache close to home—Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim have no idea whom to trust. …
One important and touching side story is Elizabeth’s husband Stephen declining with dementia.
While still in full mental capacity, Stephen wrote himself a letter explaining his medical condition. Elizabeth must read it to him every day as he’s already forgotten.
On the down side, the murder mystery is absurdly simplistic.
We don’t yet know who will play whom in the upcoming film adaptation.
New steam powered spinning looms require fewer people to operate them, throwing many people out of work.
Luddites, followers of Ned Ludd, destroy as many of the new machines as they can, but to no avail.
It’s a story we know well. New technology displacing old. The buggy whip industry disrupted.
Currently ➙ Artificial Intelligencethreatening the jobs of many.
Instead of fighting AI — we need to regulate it as best we can to maximize the benefits, minimize the harm.
AI won’t take your job. Somebody who understands AI better than you will take it.
A good analogy is robotsreplacing factory line workers. Those maintaining and repairing robots are doing well.
This book continues through 1824 against the backdrop of social unrest occasioned by revolutionary ideas from America and France. And the Napoleonic Wars.
What I like about the book is the coming-of-age story of a young Japanese woman, relocated to Chicago from an American incarceration “Camp” during WW II.
It feels very natural and believable. Almost like reading her diary.
She learns about racism, sexism, corruption, and violence in the USA.
Set in 1944 Chicago …
… the story of a young woman searching for the truth about her revered older sister’s death, brings to focus the struggles of one Japanese American family released from mass incarceration at Manzanar during World War II.
… The life in California the Itos were forced to leave behind is gone; instead, they are being resettled two thousand miles away in Chicago, where Aki’s older sister, Rose, was sent months earlier and moved to the new Japanese American neighborhood near Clark and Division streets.
But on the eve of the Ito family’s reunion, Rose is killed by a subway train.
Aki, who worshipped her sister, is stunned. Officials are ruling Rose’s death a suicide. Aki cannot believe her perfect, polished, and optimistic sister would end her life. Her instinct tells her there is much more to the story, and she knows she is the only person who could ever learn the truth.
Rob is Canada’s most successful philosophical fiction writer.
The Downloaded is his 25th book. So far only available on Audible.
A print version will be available sometime 2024.
In 2059 two very different groups have their minds uploaded into a quantum computer in Waterloo, Ontario.
One group consists of astronauts preparing for Earth’s first interstellar voyage.
The other? Convicted murderers, serving their sentences in a virtual-reality prison.
But when disaster strikes, the astronauts and the prisoners must download back into physical reality and find a way to work together to save Earth from destruction …
Audio book narrated by Academy Award-winner Brendan Fraser • Emmy Award-winner Luke Kirby • Dora Award-winner Vanessa Sears • Kim’s Convenience star Andrew Phung • and Gemini Award-winner Colm Feore.
I know Rob personally and have enjoyed his books for decades. But I’m not sure I can recommend Downloaded.
I like the plot.
But the unusual format of the book didn’t work for me.
Rather than telling the story directly, it’s a series of dialogues and interviews.
Originally intended to be released as a series of audio episodes over some weeks — like Shakespeare — the final decision was to keep it together as one audio book.
Rick McCharles 