I’m gettin somewhat inundated with requests for book reviews. I’m trying to get to them all, but it’s not easy keeping up. I’m not a particularly fast reader, but I read every night.
Here are a few books I recently finished and enjoyed. FYI, I’ve included affiliate links in this newsletter.
Just Finished
The Verifiers by Jane Pek. (Review to come.) (Spoiler alert: It’s excellent!)
The Torqued Man by Peter Mann.
JUST REVIEWED
I enjoyed this book very, very much. I gotta tell you, I don’t normally read this kind of stuff, but as I had said before, when I reviewed Rebecca, I was amazed at how much I loved the book, and this had the same sort of effect on me. Yeah, there’s a blurb here that mentions Daphne du Maurier. And there’s definitely a du Maurier feel to this story.
A woman who has been trained as a nurse for children, to take care of children goes to live in this isolated place up north in England, away from London, which is what she’s used to. She seems to be blowing this fabulous opportunity with another family that she had been assigned to, but she goes up north to this place and lives in this isolated kind of manor.
And, well, that’s all I’ll say about it. The help doesn’t seem to particularly like her, the missus is standoffish to say the least, and the husband is just this wonderful, generous guy. Um, okay. There are problems, right? That’s all I’ll say. And it was a very, very, very well-written book and I highly recommend it.
I kept wondering why are their names Mr. And Mrs. England? Is there some significance that I’m missing here because I’m not literary enough or British enough? I don’t know. Anyway, I did enjoy the book very much.
Doctor Who: A History by Alan Kistler.
Hi, I’m reading Doctor Who: A History. And I have to tell you, this is one of the coolest books I’ve read in ages. I am loving, loving, loving this book. I mean, this goes through, truly, how the show was developed. It goes over every season, every Doctor. Well, up to a certain point of course, because, you know, it’s, uh, when was this published? I didn’t even see. Anyway, the point is it’s fantastic. It’s just a fantastic book. And I mean, it goes into how they created the show, the whole concept of the show, the characters, in great detail. You know, a lot of thought went into creating those first characters, that first Doctor and all of that. And how the Doctors change over time, how the personalities change, how the show itself seemed to be kind of creating its world as it went.
Yes, really. And then to see what happens when you get to the tie-in novels. Interesting things happen when you take a show and then turn it into a bunch of novels that may not actually reflect what’s going on with the show or possibly do reflect it. Maybe they could, maybe they have a symbiotic relationship. I haven’t quite figured that out. I haven’t really thought about it much, but I mean, it’s just interesting to see the different little quirks and so forth among the different media concerning Doctor Who. But if you want an education on how to create a television show, this is really a book to read, honest to God, honest to God. It is just to me, it is just priceless. And I would, man, I would buy a copy of this book. I got it at the library, but what a great showcase the library is, I’m telling you, for books.
This book is fantastic. I loved it. Or I am loving it. I’m not finished actually with it yet. So this may be a two-part review. I don’t know if I think of anything more to say about this book, I’ll let you know. All I know is I’m up to the Fourth Doctor and he was my favorite. I love Tom Baker. That’s all there is to it. It’s because I started off watching Doctor Who with Tom Baker back in the nineties. So that’s the way it goes. What can I say? William Hartnell was wonderful. They were, they’re all wonderful. And Romana was the first female Time Lord, by the way, on the show. Just so you know that. That’s important to know because, yeah, I’m really glad they had the first female Doctor. Finally. Thank you, Chris Chibnall for that. But, Romana was the first female Time Lord. Just saying.
PS: Okay, so maybe she wasn’t the very first female Time Lord. But she’s the first one to make an impression on me! :)
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