reading (The Clicking of Cuthbert)

I finished Wodehouse's "The Clicking of Cuthbert" on Wednesday evening. It is a collection of golf related short stories. Now it says something about Wodehouse that he can make something like reading about other people's golf matches fun. The stories are so well written that the jargon and play by play that would sink any other author become a source of amusement in themselves. The stories language is all Wodehouse and the stories are all Wodehouse too, love and golf. A good collection, even more so if you're a golf fanatic who can laugh at your religion.

5. P. G. Wodehouse "The Clicking of Cuthbert"

reading (Roll Over and Play Dead)

I finished Joan Hess' "Roll Over and Play Dead" last night. This is the first of her books I've read. The main character felt like a Mary Sue for a very specific target audience. Here is a smart, acerbic woman who is surrounded characters to serve as her foil. The other characters are obviously Hess' effort at being environmentally responsible. Cardboard can be recycled. As far as plot, Hess makes fun of mystery writers for their cliche coincidences while writing in her own. The fact that she knows she's doing it and shares her laughter with the reader didn't make the cliches any more endearing to me, just more cliche. The writing is easy enough to read and flows along alright, but it is uninspired. Her descriptions were sometimes fairly detailed, sometimes incredibly spotty. Little things, like being afraid to name the model of car one of the secondary characters drove or describe how it was kept. This vehicle serves its critical part in the plot, but we don't even know if it's a aging Escort, an ancient Beetle, or a venerable Dodge Colt. I had to come up with the faded red paint and the dusty smelling interior all alone because it didn't get any more personality than "slow" in the text.

I don't mean to be too hard on the author. I had a good time reading this book. The characters are enjoyable enough, even if a bit flat. The plot moves along on its merry chase through suspects once it gets going. This is a good beach read or "I don't want to do or learn anything today" read.

6. Joan Hess "Roll Over and Play Dead"