This group has been designated for adults age 18 or older. Please sign in and confirm your date of birth in your profile so we can verify your eligibility. You may opt to make your date of birth private.
Michael J. Ritchie's Blog, page 14
November 20, 2021
“Eight Detectives” by Alex Pavesi (2020)
“The two suspects sat on mismatched furniture in the white and almost featureless lounge, waiting for something to happen.”
Having only just this month read what is the greatest murder mystery of the twentieth century, I think this week I stumbled into the title holder for the twenty-first. By this point, you’d think it was impossible to come up with a new idea in the genre, but Alex Pavesi has just gifted us something absolutely remarkable.
In the 1930s, mathematician Grant McAllister decided t...
November 14, 2021
“The Mercies” by Kiran Millwood Hargrave (2020)
“Last night Maren dreamt a whale beached itself on the rocks outside her house.”
I find the locations of the books I read to be quite samey at times. It’s like how the Doctor can travel anywhere in time and space, but invariably the TARDIS ends up in modern day London. I seem to cycle through 1930s country houses, deep space, and New York, but every now and again we venture far off the beaten track. This week I’ve headed to Norway in the seventeenth century, a place I have absolutely no experien...
November 8, 2021
“And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie (1939)
“In the corner of a first-class smoking carriage, Mr Justice Wargrave, lately retired from the bench, puffed at a cigar and ran an interested eye through the political news in The Times.”
It’s been so long since I read this one that it’s not even on the blog yet, but finally it arrives. And Then There Were None is the jewel in the crown of Agatha Christie’s works, and I defy anyone to read it and not marvel at it. Even if you think you know what happens, I can assure you there’s little more thri...
November 6, 2021
“The Hollow Man” by John Dickson Carr (1935)
“To the murder of Professor Grimaud, and later the equally incredible crime in Cagliostro Street, many fantastic terms could be applied – with reason.”
The locked room is a staple of the mystery format, so much so that by this point it’s rinsed of all parody. However, back in the day, and still now when done artfully, it makes for a very interesting puzzle to solve. John Dickson Carr made a career out of the concept, but this is the first time I’ve ever stumbled into one of his traps.
On one nig...
October 31, 2021
“Record Of A Spaceborn Few” by Becky Chambers (2018)
“Mom, can I go see the stars?”
I’m back for the third part of Becky Chambers’s outstanding Wayfarers series, and it continues to be as wonderful as ever. Although it does relate to the previous two books in the series, it can be read without them, but I would always advise starting from the beginning as a lot of ideas that have been explained before are not given fresh page time again. (This isn’t a complaint, if anything it helps streamline the book so exposition doesn’t weigh it down, but it’s...
October 19, 2021
“Contacts” by Mark Watson (2020)
“I’ve decided to end my life.”
Ah, books about loneliness. My kryptonite. My toxic ex I can’t walk away from. No matter how I’m feeling, I always end up back here. Sometimes, however, it’s just what you need.
James Chiltern has just boarded the sleeper train from London to Edinburgh, just before midnight. His last social act is to send a message to all 158 contacts in his phone imparting one vital piece of information: he is going to kill himself. After he sends the message, he sets his phone to...
October 14, 2021
“The War Of The Worlds” by H. G. Wells (1898)
“No one would have believed, in the last years of the nineteenth century, that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own…”
One of my absolute favourite musical experiences is the wonderful operatic version of The War of the Worlds as written by Jeff Wayne. In fact, a few years ago I was lucky enough to see it on stage with Liam Neeson as the narrator, and Wayne himself conducting. I thought it was finally time to explore the...
October 5, 2021
“Biscuits (Assorted)” by Jenny Robins (2021)
“Lucy has made so many good decisions recently.”
Another week, another graphic novel. They are good, aren’t they?
Set over three months in modern London, this book investigates the lives of a number of the capital’s women, taking them from all ages, races, backgrounds, and sexualities. Their stories standalone at times but, like all of our lives, they sometimes overlap too. There’s Hana, stuck in retail but making the most of it; Maya, whose long commutes allow her to get in plenty of time on th...
October 3, 2021
“Thirtynothing” by Lisa Jewell (2000)
“Dig woke with a start.”
After a couple of really intense books, I thought it was time to delve into something a bit lighter. It’s one of my few non-Christie re-reads of the year, a return to a book I’ve not read since I was at university, Thirtynothing.
Dig has just turned thirty and isn’t handling it very well, feeling he’s probably getting a bit too old for sleeping around (especially given the women he’s seeking out seem to be getting younger) and just as he’s wondering what the future holds...
September 26, 2021
“Maus” by Art Spiegelman (1986)
“It was summer, I remember.”
Having just come off the back of a book about Brexit, what could be better than one about the Holocaust? Really taking in the relaxing content right now, aren’t I? As a general rule, I don’t read much fiction set during the world wars. Not because they’re not important, but because my brain can’t comprehend the truly awful things humans can do to one another. Nevertheless, Maus has been on my pile to read for quite some time, and I’m glad I finally got around to it.
...
