What I'm Reading Wednesday

[thisbluespirit]

What I've just finished reading

Tracing Your West Country Ancestors by Kirsty Gray, which was pretty much what you would expect, but useful/interesting enough from my point of view, although I am still eyeing it askance for failing to mention the Monmouth Rebellion even once. (This is not quite as bad as adaptations of Lorna Doone that skip the Battle of Sedgemoor or film it in a hilly Welsh wood*, but I am judging the lack, as you can guess.)

I also read Whip Hand by Dick Francis, which was really interesting because it's both a book in a series by the original author and sort of pro-fanfic for the TV series The Racing Game. This happened because Yorkshire TV turned Odds Against, Dick Francis's first book about Sid Halley, a jockey who injures his hand and turns to being private investigating, into a 6 part series (1 part adaptation, five parts new adventures), but the twist is that Francis really liked it and the star Mike Gwilym and was inspired to write more about Sid - the result being Whip Hand. Having now read the other three books, I was intrigued to read this (which is even dedicated to Mike Gwilym and the producer of the show). It really does try to mesh the TV continuity into the original and he keeps the casting not only for Mike Gwilym as Sid, but clearly for Mick Ford as Chico and James Maxwell as Charles Roland (so you see where I fit into this equation). (I had no idea till I read Odds Against shortly before this that there was any fundamental difference, because of the way that he actually made the two fit as closely as possible retrospectively. The books have an extra injury! I suppose this shouldn't even be surprising...)

Anyway, I liked this one the most, probably not unrelated to its being the most TV-influenced, and also because it had the most Sid & Charles, and they have a really great relationship, which comes to a point here. (Charles is Sid's father-in-law, a retired admiral with a posh house and they initially hated each other, but later became such good friends that their relationship outlived Sid's marriage to Charles's daughter. Sid's narration says things about how Charles is the most important person in the world to him, but of course they never say things like that to each other. But he tells Charles, when he turns up in trouble in this one, that he came home and they both know what they mean. <3<3<3)

(The last one Under Orders isn't as good but it does have a priceless bit where Sid introduces his new fiancee to Charles and then gets jealous because Charles non-seriously flirts with her as Charles is HIS ALONE.)


I also read another Daisy, Sheer Folly, which is a later entry into the series, but an enjoyable one - a unique restored grotto that Daisy is writing an article about gets blown up with somebody inside it. Could it be murder? Of course it could. Alec is annoyed again, because he was coming down to join Daisy for a couple of days off and instead when he arrives he has to dig a body out of an a lot of rubble underground and unofficially assist a murder investigation. It's hard being married to a murder-magnet, although a DCI of Scotland Yard is the best candidate for it, really. (Luckily, she's cute.)


What I'm reading now

I am still reading The Surgeon's Mate, and in my family history note-taking, I have started We Danced All Night: Britain Between the Wars by Martin Pugh, which is proving to be both highly relevant and readable so far.


What I'm reading next

Well, I do have another Daisy out from the library...


* Sedgemoor is situated in the middle of the Wetlands in the Somerset Levels, so you know, there could be a clue as to the landscape in that fact.

Comments

[john_amend_all]

If I heard a unique restored grotto (and its unfortunate occupant) had been blown up, my prime suspects would be Steel and Sapphire.

[thisbluespirit]

The police are probably less inclined to think like that, though. But, lol, yes!

[acciochocolate]

And here I thought I knew a lot abt Dick Francis! I've been reading his novels since I was first riding ponies. :) [Fat Shetlands w nasty tricks, I'm afraid!] If you don't mind me asking, where did you locate the info abt 'The Racing Gane'?

[thisbluespirit]

Okay, the basic info is in the Sid Halley page on Wiki (and you can find the series online here, if you like.

It's also from the copy of Whip Hand that I have - not only is it dedicated to Mike Gwilym and Jacky Stoller "with gratitude and affection" but the jacket states "The author explains that his interest in Sid Halley was resurrected while he watched The Racing Game, a series based on the character, being made by Yorkshire Television."

[acciochocolate]

Ack! I probably knew all this yrs ago, but forget, to be sure. Thanks for the links. :) My copy of TRC is packed away.

[thisbluespirit]

Yes, it's amazing what just goes!

[persiflage_1]

We Danced All Night is very readable indeed! I own that one.

[thisbluespirit]

I'm not very far through, but yes indeed! It's very useful, so there is a lot of note taking and slow progress. :-)

[persiflage_1]

Sounds good!

[liadt]

Is 'We Danced All Night' about dance bands and nightclubs? Sounds good if it is:) I do like it in the British set Saint novels when he goes and has his tea in a nightclub, much classier than a modern one. Not that the Saint would be eating in a dive, except for reasons.

[thisbluespirit]

No, it's about Britain between the wars - the subtitle is the explanatory bit! Nobody has danced yet, but it's a quote from Barbara Cartland.

[swordznsorcery]

Oh dear, poor Alec! Still, I daresay he's better prepared for it than most. My mother has just started the modern day (I think), Cornwall-set series by the same author, which she seems to be enjoying thus far. Good old Book People, where you can buy a boxset for the price of one book! Although authors probably aren't quite so enthusiastic.

I had never previously considered much in the way of family history note-taking, but I've found myself eyeing Irish histories recently. I only really know the Potato Famine and the Easter Rising, which is looking increasingly unforgivable.

(Bravo Daisy, managing an explosion!)

[thisbluespirit]

I had never previously considered much in the way of family history note-taking, but I've found myself eyeing Irish histories recently. I only really know the Potato Famine and the Easter Rising, which is looking increasingly unforgivable.

Pretty much everything to do with England's treatment of Ireland is, unfortunately. (And this is where it starts and next thing you're reading all the weirdest histories of illness and occupations and local history and who knows what just to paint in the background of their lives.)

h dear, poor Alec! Still, I daresay he's better prepared for it than most. My mother has just started the modern day (I think), Cornwall-set series by the same author, which she seems to be enjoying thus far.

I mean, a body is bad enough but hours and hours of dangerous digging went above and beyond. (I think he would prefer it if Daisy didn't manage any more explosions). I've read the first three of those Cornish ones & thought they were pretty good too. Not quite as much fun as the Daisies, but rather good in a different way.

[hyarrowen]

I didn't even know there had been a Dick Francis TV series! Well, TIL. Actually quite a few of them would be great as standalone TV thrillers.

The books have an extra injury! I suppose this shouldn't even be surprising...

I always loved the h/c aspects of the books! :D

[thisbluespirit]

From reading the comments, it sounds as if there was at least one film as well (Dead Cert?), but the TV series is here, if you're interested. (It's another Network release, but an old one.)

I always loved the h/c aspects of the books!

Heh, you are not alone!

[paranoidangel]

Alec is annoyed again, because he was coming down to join Daisy for a couple of days off

If he wanted to get a day off, he should have stayed well clear of Daisy...

I read We Danced All Night: Britain Between the Wars a few years ago. Some chapters were really interesting and some were really dull, from what I remember. But interesting to see how many things we think of as 'normal' today came from that time.

[thisbluespirit]

If he wanted to get a day off, he should have stayed well clear of Daisy...

But he wants to spend days off with Daisy, so what can he do? ;-p

I read We Danced All Night: Britain Between the Wars a few years ago. Some chapters were really interesting and some were really dull

It's been very readable so far, but then the last book was much more academically-written. I just go by usefulness, but readability is a nice bonus!

[paranoidangel]

But he wants to spend days off with Daisy, so what can he do?

I would say they could go somewhere in the middle of nowhere, but then she'd just go and find a body in the cupboard or something.

[dimity_blue]

We Danced All Night: Britain Between the Wars by Martin Pugh sounds very interesting! You'll have to tell us how it goes.

[thisbluespirit]

I suspect, somehow, that we end up at war again at the end!


;-p

[dimity_blue]

Oh, you! I had already figured that much out for myself. :oD It's a good thing I like you so much.

[lycomingst]

I read most of Dick Francis' books in my younger days. I like the tv shows too and Mike Gwilym too, if only for his name. I thought Francis wrote the same book over and over but it was a good book and I liked it.

[thisbluespirit]

I thought Francis wrote the same book over and over but it was a good book and I liked it.

Heh, well that works!

[sovay]

but the twist is that Francis really liked it and the star Mike Gwilym and was inspired to write more about Sid - the result being Whip Hand.

I did not know that! I read Whip Hand before Odds Against and never thought about any differences between the two. That's like the way Alec Guinness' portrayal of Smiley in the BBC Tinker, Tailor influenced le Carré's writing of the character when he returned in Smiley's People.

[thisbluespirit]

I read Come to Grief and Under Orders after watching the TV show the first time and they fitted in fine - it wasn't until I read Odds Against I realised they had changed stuff - and then I read Whip Hand and realised that the reason I hadn't noticed before was because Francis had done his best to reconcile both versions of canon in that one. So the differences aren't in book continuity, really - rather that Francis pushes book canon more into line with TV canon in it. And, as I said, he picks up on the actors' mannerisms and appearances, too. Which means that I get pro-fic about how much Sid loves James Maxwell Charles and I'm very happy about that indeed. :-)