Bertie steps up to the plate

Thank you, Jeeves,

- P. G. Wodehouse 

In this Jeeves and Wooster novel chaos, miscommunication, and conflagrations once again harass the hapless characters. The book begins with Bertie's realisation that his calling in life is to be one of the world's great banjolele players. This calling is very clear to him but not to any of his neighbours, friends or Jeeves and soon Bertie is faced with a decision. Either he must cease his aspirations with the banjolele or Jeeves will leave his service. The decision is made and the banjolele comes out on top. Bertie moves to the village of Chuffnell Regis with his new man, the morose Brinkly but Bertie and Jeeves will not be separated for long. The cottage where he will be staying is owned by Bertie's old school friend Chuffy and Chuffy's new valet is Jeeves. Joining the throng at Chuffnell Regis is; Seabury - Chuffy's nephew who is demanding protection money, Sir Rodderick Glossup - the famous nerve doctor who believes that Bertie should be certified, J. Washburn Stoker - the american millionaire who hates Bertie and his daughter Pauline Stoker, who was once engaged to Bertie.

Bertie must ward off a murderous valet, escape kidnap and try to save Chuffy's love life all while being harassed by the ever watchful Police Sergeant Voules who lives next door. 

I love Jeeves and Wooster books because they are cleverly written and they can always brighten my mood. I also love them because of Bertie's character. He is not a clever man, in fact Jeeves himself states that Bertie can be "mentally somewhat negligent" but his other qualities make up for this in spades. In world politics today it seems like those looking for power see strength in rudeness, bullying and intimidation. I will always prefer the Berties of the world who find that the qualities of cheerfulness and resilience are just as compelling.

My rating; 5 Stars

"He sighed slightly. All this talk of my going to shows was distressing him. What he really wanted was to see was me sprinting down Park Lane with the mob after me with dripping knives... The man annoyed me. I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie, but I was dashed if I could see why he couldn't do it with a bright and cheerful smile." 

When the going gets tough...

The Fated Sky
- Henrietta Branford

I think we can all agree that life can be tough. I know there have been many instances in my life where I have felt like dramatically falling to my knees, clenching my fists and howling "Nooooooo!" However, overall I live a comfortable, happy life and one of the most difficult moments in my day can be when I realise the peanut butter has been left in the fridge making it solid and unspreadable for my toast. The agony of it all!

It is helpful to get some reality on how good I have it and this book The Fated Sky served well as a cuff on the ear. 

Ran is a teenage girl living with her mother and grandmother on an outlying Viking homestead. Her brothers and father were Viking warriors/slavers/traders who died far from home. Recently an old flame of Ran's mother has turned up and he and her mother start to make life difficult for Ran. This old flame has a crazy viking name starting with a V, I haven't seen it in print since I listened to the audio book and I have no idea how you would spell the name so we shall call him Vile V. Every year those living on the outlying homesteads gather for a time of feasting at the central grand house and Ran, her mother and Vile V set off on the difficult three day journey. The wilds of Norway are still very wild and there is the risk of being attacked by wolves or dying from exposure and cold. A day out from the grand house they are attacked by a pack of wolves and Ran's mother is critically wounded. Vile V wild with grief lashes Ran with his fury as they rush the last couple of miles. Ran hopes for sanctuary and peace at the grand house but she swiftly comes to the realisation that there can be danger anywhere and she has no cards to play. 

Ran is living in a time where young women are possessions not people and whoever owns you has the right to do with you as they will. In the book, one woman casually tells another to avoid travelling with a certain man because he will attack and sell her. Everyone knows this but no one will make any effort to condemn or stop him, it's just the way things are. This is a time when superstition, and religious fear rule and people are chosen at random to be brutally sacrificed to appease the anger of the gods.  It's best to make the most of what you have when you have it because quite likely it will be stolen, destroyed, attacked, burnt, killed or die. The moments of mercilessness in this book really shocked me and it was hard to listen to how some characters reacted to their onerous lives with vicious and evil behaviour. Ran's experience was not sugar coated it showed her tough life and I think this contributed towards a number of negative reviews this book has recieved. This book was raw and harsh but it managed to not revel in the ugliness of the situations. 

The thing that stopped this book from being four hours of wallowing despair were the tiny rainbows of hope throughout the story. Ran found beauty in the the rugged landscape of Norway and Iceland and I liked her descriptions of what she saw. Also, even in the midst of the conflict in this novel, some of the characters showed that it is possible to make your own happiness. 

My rating: 3.5 stars

Eccentric is cool

Death in the Stocks

- Georgette Heyer

I really enjoyed about 90% of this book, it was clever, funny and the murder happened in the first chapter. All good signs of a murder mystery novel in my opinion! 

The book begins with the body of Arnold Vereker being discovered in historical stocks set in the middle of a village green. The suspects seem obvious as Arnold's half brother and sister both come out of the situation extremely financially well off. Also not helping their case, Kenneth and Antonia Vereker seem completely unperturbed by their half brother's murder. They are openly happy that Arnold is dead and they thoroughly enjoy taunting the police as they revel in eccentricity. I found many similarities between Kenneth and Antonia and Jean Ralphio and Mona Lisa Saperstein. Since I love Jean Ralphio and Mona Lisa I loved the Vereker siblings. Their honesty was refreshing and their loyalty to each other was endearing. The other cast of characters include the Vereker's laid back lawyer, Kenneth's gold digger fiance and the Vereker's grumpy housekeeper/maid/guard dog. 

The mystery itself was not all that difficult to wok out as there was some not so subtle hinting in my opinion but the characters in the book were fantastic which made the novel enjoyable overall. My only frustration was I felt that in the last couple of chapters some of the characters had their personalities watered down.

My rating - 4 stars.

"People who start a sentence with personally (and they're always women) ought to be thrown to the lions. It's a repulsive habit."