The first read aloud of 2014 was mostly good. We chose "The Monarch of the Glen" by Compton Mackenzie. First printed in 1941, it has a very Wodehouse tone to it in the smart way that dialogue and description are handled.
The action is not as much a social commentary but the oddities of the Scottish Laird are certainly the object of the humour.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/519InCNNgML._AA160_.jpg
The book's back cover comments say:
"Chester Royde, an American millionaire, travels to Scotland with his new bride Carrie and sister Myrtle, to find find out more about Carrie's Scottish ancestry. Their new 'relatives' turn out to be a little more authentically Scottish than they bargained for. Ben Nevis, Laird of Glenbogle Castle, is fiercly protective of his lands and the MacDonald clan spirit, but being cash-strapped he's not above attempting to marry heiress Myrtle to one of his many brawny sons. But then a group of hikers stumbles onto his moor and spoil a game's hunting, sparking all out war between the gentry and the commoners."
Steve was able to read this with a fairly good Scottish imitation accent. I did a lousy job of it, apparently, since he insisted on doing all the reading. If someone has a good accent, this is a fun story. There were three chapters that took place in London that we slid through. Do a quick scan there to pick up a few germane facts and hurry back to Scotland.
(note: in getting the image for this post, I discovered that this has been made into a five part series. Anyone seen it? Is it good?)
http://www.amazon.ca/Curse-Pharaohs-Elizabeth-Peters/dp/1455572365/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391433172&sr=8-1&keywords=curse+of+the+pharaohs
Book Two in this series and things are heating up by Chapter two. Snork. There is a ridiculously precocious 3 year old that may be too much to bear, or he will take on the role of the jester, commenting on things not appropriate for adults to comment upon.
I've been browsing through Circle of Pines - The year in Books - to see what people are reading. I'm on the 15th blog connection. Is this a rabbit hole of internet time? Maybe I should be reading?
http://circleofpinetrees.com/category/the-year-in-books/
I don't know who woke up on the wrong side of the bed, Blogspot or me, but this post is giving me grief over the images. I hope they are visible. If not, next Monday looks to be a better day.
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