Even though I've read almost all of Christie's books, I still enjoy a re-read. It's fun to be beguiled again. When Poirot's dentist, Morley, dies, is it murder, or suicide over a fatal complication one of his patients had? It's a time-table story, with all the patients' comings and goings noted. One patient is a bird-brained middle-aged lady. Another is a suspicious-looking Greek. There's a finance minister, a quiet government employee, and a belligerent young man who wants to have it out because the dentist has tried to keep his secretary away from him. And an Irish dentist who's often drunk and may have killed Morley to cover his own mistakes.
A long time ago I read a space yarn about a colony which wouldn't allow classic books because they were thought to be an extinct form of entertainment. Vexed, the purveyors starting shooting partial plots to the colonists, and soon the authorities were getting questions demanding to know whether Odysseus ever made it home, whether Jane Eyre married Rochester, and WHO KILLED ROGER ACKROYD? And if it's possible that you've missed Christie's ACKROYD, find it immediately.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
UNSEEN ACADEMICALS, BY TERRY PRATCHETT
I really wanted to like Terry Pratchett's Unseen Academicals, but the humor misses its beats. I don't know whether Pratchett's increasing Alzheimer's is to blame.
Unseen University needs to play a football game or lose the bequest which supplies most of their food budget. Since the wizards have nine meals a day, this is a serious threat. Lord Vetinari chooses this occasion to tame the violent street game, not because it's lethal—that has no downside for him—but because it's started to damage property.
The side plots are more fun. Glenda, the plain-looking cook in UU's Night Kitchen bosses and takes care of her beautiful but dim co-worker, Juliet. Trevor Likely is Juliet's star-crossed admirer. They support opposite football teams, a deadly problem in Ankh-Morpork. A small goblin, Nutt, works in UU as a candle dribbler (no real wizard uses a plain, undribbled new candle), talks like a professor, and has a secret history.
Lord Vetinari shows a previously unknown human side, which really doesn't work. It's fun when he allows Glenda to barge in on him because he has fond memories of her mother's cooking at the Assassin's School. But there are other scenes which aren't believable. This book was only fair
Unseen University needs to play a football game or lose the bequest which supplies most of their food budget. Since the wizards have nine meals a day, this is a serious threat. Lord Vetinari chooses this occasion to tame the violent street game, not because it's lethal—that has no downside for him—but because it's started to damage property.
The side plots are more fun. Glenda, the plain-looking cook in UU's Night Kitchen bosses and takes care of her beautiful but dim co-worker, Juliet. Trevor Likely is Juliet's star-crossed admirer. They support opposite football teams, a deadly problem in Ankh-Morpork. A small goblin, Nutt, works in UU as a candle dribbler (no real wizard uses a plain, undribbled new candle), talks like a professor, and has a secret history.
Lord Vetinari shows a previously unknown human side, which really doesn't work. It's fun when he allows Glenda to barge in on him because he has fond memories of her mother's cooking at the Assassin's School. But there are other scenes which aren't believable. This book was only fair
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