Michael J. Ritchie's Blog, page 20

“Moominland Midwinter” by Tove Jansson (1957)

“The sky was almost black, but the snow shone a bright blue in the moonlight.”

There’s something a little bit magical about snow, isn’t there? Sure, it’s cold, slippery and causes the trains to stop working, but being the first person to step onto a crisp white field of snow is quite special. Imagine how much more special that snow would be if you’d never seen it before…

Moomins, as everyone knows, hibernate all winter. When Moonmintroll wakes too early, however, he discovers an unfamiliar world...

“Death In The Clouds” by Agatha Christie (1935)

“The September sun beat down hotly on Le Bourget aerodrome as the passengers crossed the ground and climbed into the air lined Prometheus, due to depart for Croydon in a few minutes’ time.”

Given how much I talk about Agatha Christie and my fondness for her work, many people seem to think I was raised on her and have been a fan since I could read. This isn’t actually true. It was an episode of Doctor Who and a university class that really introduced me to her, although I’d had a little knowledge...

“The Sweetness At The Bottom Of The Pie” by Alan Bradley (2009)

“It was as black in the closet as old blood.”

A new year breaks, and my TBR pile seems bigger than ever, so let’s crack on with a novel that I found myself lusting after based on the title alone. Time to fall back into fiction.

It’s 1950 and at the country seat of the ancient de Luce family, ten-year-old Flavia is using her knowledge of poisons and chemistry to take revenge on her older sister. Nothing fatal, merely meddling with her lipstick to induce a reaction that will cause her lips to blis...

Films of 2020: 26-1

Last week, I began ranking the fifty-two films I watched for the first time in 2020. Now it’s time to do the upper half of the list, so many more positive things to be said here. Let’s go.

26: Rear Window

I was definitely overdue to watch some Alfred Hitchcock, and this was the first of two I watched. Although a little dated in places, I was actually mesmerised by the filming of the thing, with an enormous backdrop with sundry characters in the background all acting in real time. An impressive t...

Films of 2020: 52-27

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am absolutely terrible at watching films. I’ve barely seen any of the classics, I don’t know who’s in anything, and thanks to my short attention span and ongoing problem of trying to do thirty things at once, it takes me the best part of a day to watch a two hour film as I keep pausing it to look something up. As the year began, I set myself the task of watching a film I’d never seen before every week. Some were classics that people bemoaned the fact I hadn’...

“The Long Cosmos” by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter (2016)

“On the move, ‘down’ was always the direction of Datum Earth.“

With the reality of the situation here on Earth closing in and no end in sight, I once again embarked on a journey far away. Not Ancient Greece, this time, but into the final part of The Long Earth series, millions of Earths away from our own, bringing the story to an end. If you’ve not read the previous books in the series, then expect spoilers below.

Joshua Valienté is planning one final solo journey into the High Meggers, the step...

“Life & Soul Of The Party” by Mike Gayle (2008)

“It was a Friday just after midday, and Billy and I were lying in bed occupied in two very different activities.”

The days are dark, the rain is pressing down, and an unusual Christmas has led to a sense of gloom over much of the country. It seemed sensible to dive back into an comforting author’s work.

Life and Soul of the Party introduces us to six friends and how a single year changes all of their lives for good. We only get to see them, however, at the parties they attend over the course of ...

“Circe” by Madeline Miller (2018)

“When I was born, the name for what I was did not exist.”

In a desperate attempt to get as far away as possible from the continuing horrors of 2020 Britain, I decided to fall into a book as far away as possible. The ends of the universe were unavailable due to the TARDIS being in use, so instead I slipped along another axis and back to the point where history meets myth and the gods rule with unmatched power. It’s Ancient Greece.

Circe is a nymph, one of the thousands of daughters of the sun god...

“The Lake District Murder” by John Bude (1935)

“When the northbound road leaves Keswick, it skirts the head of Derwentwater, curves into the picturesque village of Portinscale and then runs more or less straight up a broad and level valley until it arrives at the little, mountain-shadowed hamlet of Braithwaite.”

John Bude’s rediscovery is down to the British Library, when they added a few of his titles to their collection of crime classics. Out of print since the 1930s, Bude’s calling card is murders in some of the most picturesque parts of ...

“The Almost Nearly Perfect People” by Michael Booth (2014)

Early one dark April morning a few years ago I was sitting in my livign room in central Copenhagen, wrapped in a blanket and yearning for spring, when I opened that days newspaper to discover that my adopted countrymen had been anointed the happiest of their species

Im not someone who longs to travel. I seem to have missed out on whatever gene it is that gives humans wanderlust and makes them want to set out and explore new things. Dont get me wrong, Im not averse to it, and I dont think...