Books
The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline Winspear — Am I sad that Maisie Dobbs’ story is over? 18 books over the last 20 years or so? A constant thread in my reading? Maybe so. My life has changed in that time, and so has Maisie’s. It feels good to have left Maisie and Co. largely settled after another world war. Sadder and wiser is the perpeptual theme of the series, and Winspear doesn’t let us down here.
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley — Although I rarely wander down the speculative fiction aisles, I’m a sucker for time travel. The Ministry of Time is thoughtful, fun, funny, aware, and complicated. I loved it. None of the anglophile comedy — which I love, too — of Connie Willis here, Bradley explores the psychological damage of time travel both to the travelers and those who accompany them. The story is told from the point of view of an unnamed British-Cambodian security services operative who tends to an exfiltrated white Victorian polar explorer by name of Gore. Gore was apparently a real person who served as the first inspiration for the novel. Both the narrator and Gore must grapple with how to go on in a world that’s entirely changed, whether that’s 21st century London for Commander Gore or the faded British Empire for the narrator’s mother who fled the Khmer Rouge. Highly recommend.
Trust Her by Flynn Berry — Berry pulls few punches in her story of a near future in Ireland. Trust Her continues with Tessa and Marian from Northern Spy as they face the long-term consequences about the decisions they made around the IRA. I like a book where babies and children act like babies and children; i.e., they fuss and don’t sleep. I can’t say much more without spoilers of both boths. Recommend.
TV
The Cleaner (BBC on Britbox) — Chris and I finally finished the second series of Greg Davies’s comedy about Wicky the crime scene cleaner. Series two moved into the surreality that the first season hinted at, and Wicky got ever grumpier. I would watch 100 episodes of this show, so I’m not sure why it took us so long. Bonus scenery chewing by Asim Chaudry, Roisin Conaty, Harriet Walter, and Mark Lewis Jones among others.
Podcasts
The Rest is Entertainment with Richard Osman and Marina Hyde — Between work and family, I was driving for nine hours last week. I spent a significant number of those hours with this podcast, where Osman and Hyde get into the backstory of show business. Not gossip, but the nuts and bolts of how things get made. How does the set of a game show work? How do people get fed on sets? Why do book covers constantly change from one edition to another? What do broadcasters do to a tv schedule when a tragedy occurs? What happens when a famous director wants to make a movie that no one else wants to make. Do broadcasters have different “voices” for the news and for podcasts? What beat has the most prestige in a newsroom? If you’re like me and hungry for that kind of detail, this is the podcast for you. It helps that Osman and Hyde have some of the most genial voices for podcasting.
I just got started with the M. Dobbs series and have started the second book. And last night I handed over a copy of the first book to a friend. Happy to see Chris these next days at AWW! Did your ears burn? We talked about you!