Thursday, October 24, 2013

Judging from the television news last night, I don’t think That Baby had a shawl at all. He was wearing a magnificent Christening dress which every royal baby since William the Conqueror has worn (I exaggerate slightly) – it got a bit fragile recently, and has been meticulously reproduced. But no shawl.

I’ll study the pictures in today’s papers with care.

Googling seems to reveal that Shetland presented the infant prince with a Christening gown, rather than a shawl, and the story from New Zealand is even more confusing – did someone knit something for him from Margaret Stove’s “Wrapped in Lace”? But they must have had things in drawers, as I said yesterday – including the shawl Margaret Stove herself was commissioned to design and knit for Prince William.

I didn’t get much done of my own knitting yesterday – the statutory two rounds of Rams & Yowes, completing the third row of sheep; and some delicious and restorative Milano. We got to the doctor’s office on time, and had our flu injections, but it felt like a day’s work.

Today’s event is art-historical and therefore non-blog-able. And I must also get beds ready for Greek Helen and her sons.

Reading

The Crime Writers Association is polling its members to discover the best thriller ever written, the best series, and the best writer. (I’m not tremendously impressed – no nomination for Traitor’s Purse or Tiger in the Smoke.) Then a Telegraph columnist produced his own short list. That one startled me by including Agatha Christie’s “Nemesis”, a very late work and one I had never heard of. “The murderer sticks out like Miss Marple on an 18-30 holiday, but the inability to construct the usual clockwork plot seems to have freed Christie to explore the themes of evil and retribution with rare power.”


So I’m reading it (that’s the joy and danger of Kindle), and enjoying it. I’ve never read Reginald Hill at all; he’s on all the lists. Nor Louise Penny, recommended by Kristie.

11 comments:

  1. Louise Penny is worth a good long look. Her Inspector Gamache series, based in Quebec, is excellent. Now you've got me curious about Mr. Hill:)!

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  2. I second Kristie's recommendation of Louise Penny. Have you read any Stella Rimington (former head of MI5) or Alex Gray (set in Glasgow) or Fred Vargas? All women! I often find male crime writers - with a few exceptions - include too much gratuitous violent sex and strong language for me to stomach.

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  3. rosesmama12:19 PM

    I'm surprised that Minette Walters has not made these lists. Her novels are not in a series, but they are deliciously creepy.

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  4. I concur re. Louise Penny and Reginald Hill. Also, I was finally able to buy a Catherine Sampson novel on Kindle in the US - Falling from Air. Started it on the plane yesterday and I am quite enjoying it.

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  5. Anonymous6:00 PM

    Louise Penny is special.

    What about Gladys Mitchell's "Laurels are Poison"? I really like that one - terrific characters.
    JennyS

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  6. ah Reginald HIll - and add Peter Robinson if you have not read him. yes its too easy to add to kindle library!

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  7. Anonymous7:31 PM

    I am glad you are enjoying "Nemesis" as it is my all-time favorite Miss Marple. Very well crafted. And I also agree about Reginald Hill, Louise Penny, and Peter Robinson. Excellent writers that I enjoy very much. Take care - Joe-in Wyoming

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  8. Anonymous10:42 PM

    I second Louise Penny!!! 100 times.
    Was Anne Cleeves on the list? Very very good detecting ... and all are based in SHETLAND!!!! I would suggest you begin reading with your morning tea .... be sure to cancel all obligations pending!!

    Elizabeth

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  9. I think it was probably too warm for George to have a shawl with him at his christening. He sure looks like his father did at the same age...just a bit darker hair.

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  10. I'll add an Australian female Kerry Greenwood and a male Gary Disher (the Headland series) - oh and Barry Maitland is an Australian who writes classic English procedurals.

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  11. If you can get Louise Penny in audiobook, DO. Wonderful books and a perfect narrator. I think they're my all-time faves and I'm a BIG audiobook consumer.

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