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This is my review of The Queens Man by Rory Clements. The observant will realise that I am slowly working through the Rory Clements series about John Shakespeare. We now have gone back in time just to confuse the issue to a much younger John starting out in his career as an intelligencer (a sixteenth century spy) . Once the reader had got used to the idea of everyone being so much younger and John yet to marry, it was a good story. What I find the most interesting with Rory's books is that they are based on real events and real characters that, certainly within schooling I did not know anything about. I was told that the reign of Queen Elizabeth the First, was generally peace and prosperity, but evidently this was not the case. Intrigue, plotting, corruption and murder were the run of the day. This story is all about Mary Queen of Scots, and the various plots both in support and against her. John is sent to investigate what is going on. He gradually uncovers plot within plot, like pealing an onion, except in this case the heart of the onion seems to be related to his family. Is he going to end up causing his family to be put to the rack, or can he save them from this terrible fate. Fortunately there are other intelligencers at work, who have their own private agendas, but these may just help John out of the terrible predicament that he finds himself in. I will record this as book 9 , week 4 fiction 7 (audio books 2) non fiction 2 Friends
The second book from my catch up was one I listened to as a librivox recording Whose Body by Dorothy L Sayers. https://librivox.org/whose-body-by-dorothy-l-sayers/ Now though again this is a book that contains the aristocracy, they are portrayed in a much more understandable way. I am not sure if this was the first Lord Peter Wimsey mystery, but it was certainly one of the first, as such Dorothy spends quite a lot of time expanding and building the various characters involved. In her later books this is not the case as it is assumed that the reader knows who they are. Lord Peter is asked by his mother The Dowager Duchess of Denver to investigate the strange occurrence of a dead body, that has been found by her vicar's architect in the bath wearing nothing but a pair of pince-nez. There then follows a complex but very understandable plot line of trying to work out where this dead body has come from. At the same time a prominent investor has gone missing. Are these two cases linked in some way, and if so how. To solve the various mysteries Lord Peter has to expose himself to the killer, who so nearly kills him, but of course this does not happen as Lord Peter has to live another day so he can star in the series of books. A very enjoyable book full of humour mixed in with mystery. I will record this as book 8 , week 4 fiction 6 (audio books 2) non fiction 2 Friends
Well I thought I would make every effort to keep this list up to date but I did not allow for being knocked for six with a cold come flu, but better now and so can catch up with a few reviews of the books that I read whilst not feeling too well. The first book I read was Death in a White tie by Ngaio Marsh. This was a book that had been recommended to me as one I might like. Maybe it was the font, or in my view the authors annoying habit of referring to the characters with their surname or in this case it was more likely to be their title, but during the text any conversation was more likely to refer to some nickname. Without a crib to know who “Bunty” was or other such names, it was so hard to follow that I did not enjoy the book that much. In fact I would not have bothered to finish it except that, it was such a bizarre murder Lord Robert murdered in thick fog in the back of a cab and no-one was able to make out who did it including the non attentive cabbie. With a few minutes thought there is only one real character who could have carried out the murder and 90% of the book could have been really missed out. Anyway this was book I will record this as book 7 , week 3 fiction 5 (audio books 1) non fiction 2 Friends
This is my review of the book Barnabas A good man full of faith by Robert Dale, which I have read recently. Though this is a short book it is a very up lifting book. The name Barnabas means “Son of Encouragement” and his life reflects that. The book explores the various references that relate to Barnabas in the New Testament. How he starts off as the one one person who takes Saul under his wing, following on from Saul's road to Damascus experience and conversion. A fact that is often overlooked, but I do question myself thinking would I be willing to look after someone who until that point in time has been going round searching for Christians so that they could be handed over to the authorities and killed. From then on he covers some key events in Paul, as Saul has become known missionary journeys, as he travels around with Barnabas. Acts 15 records a difference of opinion in the early church, and Barnabas helps resolve the conflict. In all cases the truth is uppermost even if it does seem to sometimes get in the way. We then come to the parting of the ways with John Mark, Paul takes Silas on his next journey and Barnabas takes John Mark to Cyprus. The book has ten chapters and each is packed with thought provoking insight into different aspects of Barnabas' life. His example is a good challenge for us to follow. This was book 6, first book of the new month, week 3 fiction 4 (audio books 1) non fiction 2 |
Tim Fuller
Dyslexic doodles on photography, food (growing, cooking & of course eating), faith and other fascinating things. This is a personal blog expressing my views. Archives
November 2015
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