This is going to take a long time

The detective series A Touch of Frost was recommended for me on Netflix, so I put the first season in my queue and waited for it to arrive. I wasn't disappointed. The series follows the adventures of "Jack" Frost, a detective in the Denton police department. Frost is played by the actor David Jason, perhaps best known for his role as the perpetually scheming Del Boy in Only...

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If you can't say something nice

The title and subject of this book made me anxious to read it. I knew it was written by an American who had been living in Britain for a while, and so I was anxious to read The Anglo Files by Sarah Lyall. I realize that when moving to another country there will inevitably be some culture shock. What I wasn't prepared for in this book was the constant theme running through...

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Not as bad as I'd feared

I went to the sneak preview last night of the film Valkyrie, starring Tom Cruise. I am by no means a Tom Cruise fan and I definitely wouldn't have paid to see it, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. I have been reading ominous warnings about this film for ages on the gossip sites (the film was delayed numerous times, it got poor reviews from test screenings, etc.), so...

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We had one of them, but the wheels fell off

I had high hopes for the new library-centric novel The Book Stops Here by Ian Sansom. In addition, my excitement only grew when it turned out to be nearly impossible to obtain the book using Interlibrary Loan. I figured it must be a great book if it was constantly checked out and in use.This, it turns out, is the third in a series of mystery novels featuring the librarian...

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Mouse tales

On Saturday morning I went to a free screening of the new film The Tale of Despereaux. OK, so it's a kids' movie, but free is free. It also had a nice tie-in for anglophiles, as about 1/2 of the voice cast was British. Some of the actors included Tracey Ullman, Robbie Coltraine, Emma Watson and Charles Shaughnessy. The story took place in the city of Dor, and about half the...

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Led astray once again

Browsing around the audio book shelves in the local library, a work by a new (to me) author, Katie Fforde, caught my eye. I quickly read the overview of the story on the back of the container for Stately Pursuits and it sounded promising: "look after a relative's stately home," "dilapidated house," "quirky, ever-present neighbors," "absurdities of every day life," and "wit...

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Merry Christmas, Check Republic

Yesterday I went to the local post office to mail some Christmas cards and gifts to friends overseas. All went well until the flummoxed clerk tried to find "Check Republic" in her computer. She punched buttons, looked at the envelope on the scale, looked back at the screen, pushed more buttons, and furrowed her brow murmuring, "Ch . . ." Finally she said, "It's just not here." I told her, "It's probably the last of the 'C' countries." She said, "No,...

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You know this won't end well

If you've ever been tempted to exaggerate just a little on your resumé, you owe it to yourself to see the Swedish film Underbar och Älskad av Alla (Wonderful and Loved by Everyone). Bella is an actress who is receiving money from unemployment. When she's notified that her benefits are about to run out, she decides that drastic action is called for. She does a little work...

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I'm still waiting for the good news

Kate Atkinson's now-familiar characters of Jackson Brodie and Louise Monroe make return appearances in When Will There Be Good News? In keeping with the themes of her earlier books, Atkinson's former police officer Brodie is still trying to rescue "lost girls." Both Brodie and Monroe have embarked on new relationships since the last book in the series, but they are still carrying...

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It's hard to be happy . . .

. . . when you're forced to watch such dreck. I had great hopes for the film Happy Go Lucky, which is set in London and promised to be an uplifting and inspirational look at modern life. Sally Hawkins plays Poppy, a young primary school teacher in London who always looks on the bright side of life. She laughs, giggles, and smiles at everything. And I mean everything. Her...

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Nine little pilgrims

Although it is billed as "a retelling of The Canterbury Tales", Karen Maitland's Company of Liars shares only a few similarities with that famous work. Both works take place in the 14th century and concern a band of travellers, but they are distinct stories.The band of travellers in Company of Liars has no specific destination. They are merely attempting to stay one step...

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Mothers and daughters

Royal mothers and daughters are the subjects of a fascinating book by Julia Gelardi titled In Triumph's Wake. The lives of three dynamic queens and their less fortunate daughters are explored in a way that makes history come alive. While the three mothers in the book (Queen Isabella of Spain, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria and Queen Victoria of England) were all successful...

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Make your own luck

I wanted to post a message today about luck, making your own luck, and being "lucky." I enter lots of sweepstakes, and, although I don't do as well as some "professional sweepers" (Hello Mr. & Mrs. Shanahan!), I am thrilled with the occasional unexpected win showing up. Today I was notified that I've won "The Ultimate Vols Experience" sweepstakes. I don't have all the details yet, but I do know it involves two tickets to the UT-Kentucky football...

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When one comes, they all come

We keeping hearing about the "team" and its work in Waking the Dead, so it's no surprise when the entire team turns up to tramp through murder sites. DS Boyd, played by Trevor Eve, is in charge of the team, which also includes a psychologist, a forensic pathologist, and two police officers. The team works on cold cases, and of course, there are no shortage of those. There...

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Old blue eyes

A while back, BBCAmerica showed the drama series Wire in the Blood. I watched it, and although the main character, Dr. Tony Hill, played by Robson Green, was a bit weird, after a while he grew on me. After the first three seasons, however, co-star Hermoine Norris left, and I didn't feel he had the same sort of chemistry with her replacement. Also, I started to feel that it...

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Filed under "Too Much Information"

Given my obsession with all things British (which no one in my vicinity seems to share), I was delighted to discover a book titled My Love Affair with England: A Traveler's Memoir by Susan Allen Toth. It would seem as if the author and I would have a great deal in common. I have read many traveler's memoirs, and I was expecting this one to be especially relevant to my interests....

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Do we really speak the same language?

I am an unabashed Anglophile who greatly admires dear old Blighty, but there is the occasional word that does puzzle me while I am attempting to understand British English. So I'm here to ask for help from my fellow Anglophiles (or anyone willing to offer a suggestion) to explain these linguistic oddities of British English to me.1. The pronunciation of the past tense of eatI listen to a lot of audio books, many of which are read by British narrators....

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From tragedy to triumph

I was alarmed when I happened to see a post on CNN about the demise of XM Satellite radio that happened this week. I have been listening to podcasts and audio books lately, so I hadn't tuned in to my satellite radio for a while. I have been an XM subscriber for several years, after initially winning a radio and year of service. When I first started listening to satellite radio, I was disappointed to see that XM's competitor, Sirius, included BBC...

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Who was that man?

Recently I found a stack of old cassette tapes, and I popped one into the player to see what was on it. I was thrilled to hear the wonderful voice of Nick Lowe. I have always enjoyed his music, but I was particularly moved by the song Who Was That Man from the Party of One album. This song is about the terrible fire in the King's Cross Underground Station in November 1987....

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The tragic story of John Bauer

When I was living in Sweden back in the early 1990s, I noticed a commemorative stamp series honoring the Swedish artist John Bauer. I had never heard of him before, but I was intrigued by his drawings of trolls, forests, maidens, and of course, moose. John Bauer is best known as the illustrator of "Bland Tomtar och Troll" (Among Elves and Trolls), a yearly Christmas fairytale...

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Coffee? Tea? Bromide?

"British Intelligence" is a highly questionable concept after watching the 1990s TV series The Piglet Files. Peter "Piglet" Chapman (so named because all the other animal code names beginning with "P" were already taken) is recruited into the British spy organization MI5 due to his expertise with electronics. He is not allowed to tell his wife or anyone else that he is now...

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Never thought I'd see the day

There have been a lot of historic and exciting things happening in the U.S. over the past few days. It's impossible not to get caught up in the feelings of hope and optimism that are sweeping the country. However, as everyone knows, it's all about ME in this world, and so here is the event that has rocked my world recently:I honestly never though I'd see sub-$2 gas again in...

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If they needed a thrill, couldn't they have gone to London?

Deviating a bit from all things British today to discuss the book For the Thrill of it: Leopold, Loeb, and the Murder that Shocked Chicago by Simon Baatz. The book chronicles the infamous 1924 murder of 14 year old Bobby Franks by older teenagers Richard "Dickie" Loeb and Nathan "Babe" Leopold. I was familiar with the case and had read a great deal about it, so I was interested...

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