VIEWING
Dr. Thorne. This adaptation of Trollope’s novel on Amazon Prime was written and produced by Julian Fellowes of Downton Abbey fame. It’s a short series, only 4 episodes, but each one is introduced and closed by Mr. Fellowes. Formally dressed sitting in a chair in what appears to be a library, his remarks are engaging and informative and delivered with a twinkle. Mr. Fellowes is a talented man, witness the wild success of Downton, and recently his latest novel, Belgravia, was issued in hardcover, but first serialized a la Charles Dickens on a downloadable app. Pushing the envelope, as they say.
I don’t think Dr. Thorne is great television, but it was diverting and fun to watch while being on the treadmill.
READING
The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss by Anderson Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt. I had eyed this book in the store and was pleased when my friend Sue sent it on for me to read. Gloria Vanderbilt is a famous name, but I didn’t know much of anything about her life, particularly her early life. In this book, the sharing of a year-long e-mail correspondence between her and her son, she unloads about her lovelorn and tumultuous childhood and her rootless adulthood before her successful marriage to Wyatt Cooper. You learn much more about her than you do about him, although he shares his feelings about the premature deaths of his father and his brother and about his coming out as gay to his mother. What is remarkable about this book is that mother (at 91) and son (48) were able to have this frank discussion and to make themselves vulnerable in this way.
LOADED UP
As I get ready to be in Maine, I’m pondering which paper books to take as well as loading up my Kindle. I will have far more books at hand than I will ever get to, but I relish having choices and never want to be without enough reading material. You’d think there weren’t any bookstores in Maine! Actually, there are branches of Sherman’s, an independent regional store, in Portland, Boothbay Harbor, and Damariscotta.
Anyway, here are a few of the titles I have waiting on my Kindle, all novels plus two mysteries and none looking to be too heavy. Perfect for summer!
Heat & Light by Jennifer Haigh. A new novel about fracking by this talented author set in a small Pennsylvania town. She also wrote Baker Towers and Mrs. Kimble, both excellent.
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith. A 17th century Dutch painting is the focus of this novel spanning several decades by native Australian Smith, who now lives in Texas.
Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave. He’s the author of one of my all-time favorite best books, Little Bee. This is his new novel set during WWII.
The Summer before the War by Helen Simonson. She wrote the very popular novel, Mr. Pettigrew’s Last Stand, about intercultural relationships. This one is set in 1914.
The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny. An early Inspector Gamache mystery, as always set in Three Pines, Quebec.
A Pattern of Lies by Charles Todd. This is the 7th in the Bess Crawford mystery series written by a mother-son team.
