Again, this blog seems to turn from time to time into a book-based set of reflections. But hey, I enjoy it, and after all, this is a blog written for my benefit, so I don't really feel the need to justify myself to anyone - if you're not interested, feel free to stop reading now!
I am continuing to enjoy my library membership, and one of my latest discoveries has been that I can download an App ("Overdrive") and use my membership to download and read ebooks. So, my first download was "Killing Floor", the first of the Jack Reacher novels, which as it happens I do also own in hard copy form. I'd said at the start of the year that I should finally start off with reading some Lee Child to see whether I'd enjoy them, and sure enough it was a good read. Certainly another one, along with Harlan Coben to add to my list of enjoyable US thriller writers.
This week I have also started the penultimate Morse book, "Death is now my Neighbour", which I don't think I have read before, and which is set in early 1996, so actually a little after my time in Oxford, but the place feels extremely familiar. One particular passage struck a chord with me, as Lewis is sent to the station to see if someone will appear to get on a particular train to London:
"At 9.45am Lewis was seated strategically at one of the small round tables at the refreshment area adjacent to Platform One. Intermittently an echoing loudspeaker announced arrivals or apologies for delays; and, at 9.58, recited a splendid litany of all the stops on the slow train to Reading: Radley, Culham, Appleford, Didcot Parkway, Cholsey, Goring and Streatley ..."
Some of us used to be able to quote all of the stations on the slow train to Reading by heart. It was a very familiar journey once upon a time.
Yesterday, after dropping Nicky and Christie off at the station for their trip to London and the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland, I popped in to Bluewater (for a bit of birthday shopping), and whilst there enjoyed a good look around in Waterstones. So, so many books that I want to read that I don't even dare to make a list! Went in to the Costa at the back for a cappuccino and whilst there read the first half of Carl Hiaasen's "Team Rodent" (again on library ebook), which I then finished off later in the day. It is a pretty insubstantial thing - only 70-80 pages, and is also fairly out of date now, having been published in the late nineties. It deals with the author's dislike of all things Disney, from his perspective as a native of the Sunshine State, seeing what the arrival of Disney has done to Orlando and the surrounding area. As a fan of his fiction, I was intrigued to hear his perspective. However, I didn't learn very much new information. As expected, he had a go at Reedy Creek, Celebration, Animal Kingdom, the failed America project, and so on.
I guess that the only points that I would take away of interest were, (i) we all know that the deal Florida did with Disney to establish RCID was truly amazing and gave Disney carte blanche to do pretty much whatever they liked in their 43 square miles, but apparently in theory their powers go all the way up to and including building their own international airport and / or nuclear power plant, (ii) to a large extent Hiaasen's gripe isn't with WDW itself, but with the tacky and low grade tourist traps that surround Disney property hoping to secure some of the vacation dollars that don't get spent "on property" which is a pretty fair point, and (iii) given that the book is 15+ years old now, it would be interesting to hear what the author thinks about the latest state of affairs.
Finally I am enjoying "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin, but am only up to February so far, so may have to blog some more about that on another occasion.