"The Fry Chronicles": A Review

The Fry Chronicles: an Autobiography
by Stephen Fry

Great Britain is a very small island, and the number of great British actors is therefore a rather smaller club than the personnel involved in the bloated machinery of Hollywood. The result, in my opinion, is that autobiographies of British performers are easier and more satisfying to read, because the cast of characters is much more manageable. A lot of American actors' biographies that I've tried simply read like a "Who's Who" of people of whom I've never heard and names that I can't possibly keep straight. I didn't really have that problem with this one.

However, the real joys here are Stephen Fry's self-deprecating humor and honesty, the quirky way in which he marshals his thoughts, and his highly readable, thoroughly enjoyable writing style. He is the first to admit in these pages that he often comes off as smug, and actually is pompous at times. Moreover, his vocabulary is a truly formidable thing; I certainly encountered new words. Taken all together, these factors make Stephen Fry an acquired taste for some, and frankly unpalatable to others, but I'm a die-hard lover of Fry, and therefore of this book.

The Fry Chronicles is the actor/author's second installment in what I hope will eventually be a multi-volume autobiographical series. The first, Moab is My Washpot, covered his childhood up to the age of 17, and this one picks up from the first, extending to the year 1987. I anxiously await the publication of the continuing story.

Photo courtesy of Stephen Fry
Signature courtesy of IIVeaa

I Heart Judi Dench! : A Review...

I simple ADORE Dame Judi Dench, and she IS an actual dame of the British Empire.  I think we all know that NONE of us want to get me started on the British honors system (a.k.a. that deal where the Queen goes around "knighting" people every year), the intricacies of how it works and the fact that most people who get referred to as "sir" or "dame," especially by us Americans, don't actually have a right to the title, but sufficeth to say that DAME Judi Dench DOES have a right to the title, and personally, I think she earned it.  She sweated in a lot of Shakespearean costumes and labored to give a lot of theater-goers their money's worth to get that title.  On with the review.

 

And Furthermore

by Judi Dench
(as told to John Miller)

March 8, 2012

 Celebrity memoirs often seem like they will be simply fascinating until you actually start reading them, and then they all develop the same problem--they talk endlessly about a HUGE group of people, none of whom has the reader ever heard before.  Other actors, movie executives, agents, members of various filming crews, acting instructors and countless others are all described in excruciating detail, along with a rough sketch of their impact, for good or ill, upon the person telling his or her own story.  While this book does not entirely escape that pitfall, a couple of mitigating factors made it far better about the issue than most I've read.

First off, as we all know, Britain is quite a small island, so the number of its actors with careers as long-lasting and broad-ranging as Judi Dench's forms a pretty exclusive club.  When we take into account the fact that she has spent most of her career doing Shakespeare on stage in companies like the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company) and the Old Vic, that club gets even much smaller.  So a number of the names she dropped at least rang a bell for me, and some were very familiar, indeed.  Secondly, Judi Dench is just so entertaining, and she so infectiously enjoys life, that I happily read her telling me stories about complete strangers!

Best of all, in this book she finally dedicated an entire chapter just to talking about television series in which she has starred, something she didn't really do in previous publications.  That chapter was all too brief, in my opinion, since I simply ADORE As Time Goes By, but it was a lot of fun to read, all the same.

I Review, Therefore I Am

Good evening, my dears.

I must admit at the outset that I've had a rather depressing week, with pain, nausea, and pills that may very well hurt more than they help.  After days of this, I've decided to shout a big "PISS OFF!" to everything that could be depressing me right now, and write you all a review of a lovely book, instead.  Shall we?

Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle

by The Countess of Carnarvon

If you haven't watched any of Downton Abbey, or have no idea what Downton Abbey even is, may I first congratulate you on finding so remote a rock under which to live for the past two years.  That aside, Downton Abbey is a "period piece" which is filmed, at least in part, on location at Highclere Castle, the seat of the Earls of Carnarvon for several generations now.

For those of you who may have some interest in Egyptology, yes, we are talking about THAT Carnarvon, the family that was to have such a crucial role in Howard Carter's discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in the early 20th century.

Written by the current Countess, this book chronicles the setbacks and ultimate triumphs of one of her predecessors, another woman who married into the title and all that came with it.  (Such books are often ghost-written, of course, but I don't believe this one was; after all, the author is speaking--with great authority--about her own home in which she currently resides, and her acknowledgements make it very clear that she delved into the necessary archives herself.)  Almina was the 5th countess and wife of the 5th earl, the man who poured so much of his own blood and sweat, not to mention a great deal of his money, into excavations of the Valley of the Kings, so that he and Howard Carter could enter the tomb together as partners when King Tut was finally found.  Unfortunately, Carnarvon didn't live more than a few weeks after the dig began, but he did have his moment of triumph.

Still, the center of the story is Lady Almina and how she kept her husband's estate running smoothly through "wars and rumours of wars," and in all honesty, I found much of her story more compelling than the tapestry of fiction that has been woven around her house by the BBC.  I have enjoyed very much watching Downton Abbey and am anxiously awaiting the next season, but I have to wonder if I wouldn't have enjoyed it even more if they had included less of the fanciful and more of the facts of Highclere Castle's life.  I avidly read my way through this book, made quick work of it, really, and can recommend it to anyone who likes love stories, Egyptology, adventures, period pieces, Victorian or Edwardian history, or just wants a decent, simple, enjoyable read.

Review of "In the Garden of Beasts"

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin

by Erik Larson

This book is the story of the poor man who got roped into taking on the job of U.S. ambassador to Germany during the early years of Hitler's regime, when the archlunatic was still just chancellor under the blundering and ineffectual presidency of the aged von Hindenburg.  It also spans the death of said president, along with the "Night of the Long Knives" and other horrifying events of Hitler's eventual rise to unquestioned power, during all of which, William E. Dodd held the most unenviable ambassadorial post available in American diplomacy.

The tale is told through the vehicle of the activities and reactions of the thoroughly human Dodd family, and believe it or not, it's truly a thriller in its own way.  Since we all know the unadulterated evil that is brewing in a way that none of the Dodds could have at that time, I read this book in much the same way that I watched Titanic, i.e. wanting to stand up and shout, "Oi! There's an iceberg coming!" the whole time.

The only really frustrating thing about Larson's style is that he--also aware of the momentous times in which the Dodds were living--constantly pulled the "but even WORSE was lurking just around the corner!!" stunt, trying to keep suspense at fever pitch, and pretty soon it just became rather corny.  I kept expecting to hear an invisible orchestra burst out playing dramatic notes: "Bump bump BUMMMMM!!!!"  So that got old quickly.

Otherwise, however, I actually was fascinated by this book, found it an exciting read, and was challenged to look into a few other books, especially the novels of Christopher Isherwood, and Richard J. Evans'  3-volume history of the Third Reich (on which, much more is soon forthcoming).

Review of "Mansfield Park"

Mansfield Park

by Jane Austen

Yes!  I finally read this book, and now have only Northanger Abbey to go before I can officially say that I have read the entire Jane Austen "Sacred Six"!  It's funny, I've actually read a bit of her juvenalia, but still haven't finished the "canon" yet.  I'm quite surprised at myself about it, really.

You know, the more I read Jane Austen, the more I decide that she only crafted one plot, and kept writing it over and over, improving it each time, in each novel in which she used it.  The most amazing part of the whole enterprise is that she manages to keep me glued to the page EVERY TIME!

It's not actually the same plot, of course; it's a formula of re-arranging certain required elements into different patterns, and it is that very quality that allowed Austen to DEFINE the "comedy of manners".  Someone will behave in an absolutely infamous way when judged by the standards of the time.  At least one, and usually two people will be so impossibly stupid and annoying that the reader cringes every time that character appears on the page.  At least one main character is impossibly good, usually the heroine, though not always.  The one redeeming factor of this aspect is the fact that Austen uses it as a sort of quiet rebellion; though she never actually says so, she makes it clear to the audience that the snarls to happiness would have gotten untangled much quicker if that character hadn't been such a paragon of the virtues of Jane Austen's time.

So, it goes without saying that this book was that novel again, and that like all the others, this one had its own twist, its own take on the themes.  Nothing remains to give you but spoilers and my own opinion, and as I'm diametrically opposed to all spoilers, I'll just say that I enjoyed it, I always enjoy them, even though I'd sometimes be hard-pressed to outline exactly why.  Jane Austen was an absolute genius; what else is there to be said?

Review of "And Then There Were None"

Creepy!  Oooo, creepy, creepy stuff.  Believe it or not, this is the first Agatha Christie novel I've ever read in my 34 years of life, and now I finally see what all the fuss was about!  Before I read this, I imagined that Agatha Christie herself must have been a sort of pink-wearing, cat-loving, tea-pouring old British lady, and therefore her mysteries wouldn't be made of very stern stuff, either.  Now, I am firmly convinced that Stephen King wishes he had half the sick, twisted mind that this tough old bird had.

And Then There Were None is THE original pick-'em-off murder story, upon which Clue (both movie and boardgame) and a lot of other light-hearted nonsense has been based.  There was nothing light-hearted about this book.  10 people are lured to an island under false pretenses, bumped off one by one, and slowly go insane as they get more and more distrustful of each other.  Before it was over, I had practically considered everyone from the butler to the dining room table a suspect, and still didn't see the ending coming.  A word of warning, by-the-way; if you are at all of a nervous disposition, don't read this book late at night.  First of all, once you're about half-way through it, you won't be able to put it down and go to bed, because you'll have a desperate need to find out what the Hell is going on?!?!?!  And secondly, I finished this right before finally going to bed at an unholy hour, and the highly predictable dream dripping with homicide inevitably ensued.

I cannot give this book a full five-star rating for only one reason; after the amazing build-up of suspense and terror during the slow execution of the house guests, no ending on earth could have truly satisfied my fevered brain, and this one did not fail to disappoint.  I mean, the identity of the perpetrator certainly surprised me, but the way in which the ending was constructed felt very anti-climactic after all that lead-in time.  Still, this book is thrilling and horrifying, replete with lunatics and nut-jobs, just as any good murder mystery should be, (at least, it should if you're a long-time fan of Midsomer Murders, like me).

Review of "A Study in Scarlet"



Image from Google Books

So, it is time for me to give you the low-down on my first encounter with Sherlock Holmes!  As I've mentioned before, I have an iron-clad policy of reading series in chronological order whenever humanly possible--yes, I'm even one of those annoying people who counts The Magician's Nephew as the first book in the Chronicles of Narnia, and publication dates be damned!  Obviously, then, if I was going to dive into Sherlock Holmes at all, I had to acquire the very first novella, the installment in which Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson first meet and begin their fantastically successful partnership.  I must say, it held a few surprises for me!

First of all, I had no idea the MORMONS would feature so prominently in this tale, and let me tell you, they did not come off looking very well in the whole affair.  (Put the search terms "Doyle Mormons" into Google; you'll get a taste of what I'm talking about.)  As many others have said (this I discovered when I did the aforementioned Google search myself), whether or not Doyle had any of his facts straight about the Latter-Day Saints, his view is certainly representative of the public anti-Mormon feeling that was running quite high at the time.

The second surprise was finding out exactly how the friendship between Holmes and Watson began.  I had always pictured Watson rather like the little dog in the old Warner Brothers cartoon who follows the big dog around, constantly excited about everything and saying things like, "Can we go to that real nice restaurant tonight, Alfie?  Can we?  Huh?  Huh? Can we?"  In other words, I assumed that Watson worshipped Holmes, and Holmes tolerated Watson.  In point of fact, the great detective needed a friend quite as much as his side-kick did, which makes me like the whole arrangement even more.  Besides the loneliness factor, Watson also proved very useful in many situations which required a doctor's services, (though I know that more from Granada's made-for-tv versions of Holmes than from this book).  It was in reading the front matter of A Study in Scarlet that I learned that, in point of fact, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was sort of a composite of both his main characters, since he had to put the ideas into Holmes' mind and mouth, and had also once been a doctor by profession.

I'm sure my rating of this book comes as no surprise at all, except maybe in the fact that I didn't go the whole hog and give it a perfect score; after all, it's been popular this long for a reason.  However, I have been known to give classics bad reviews before, and probably will do so again occasionally.  This one earned its stars.  The only thing that really annoyed me about this book was Holmes' trick of spying out "military men" by their "bearing."  I could easily buy most of his deductions, but I still find it hard to believe that a man's "bearing" or demeanor, witnessed from a second-floor window across the street, could so easily tell the observer that he had been in the army.  Even if it could, the device gets a little over-used.  Otherwise, this was a page-turner, and I can highly recommend it.