Two Books by Denzil Meyrick

I had never heard of the Scottish crime fiction novelist Denzil Meyrick until I read of his death online last February. Murder/crime fiction is a genre of novels of which I'm particularly interested in so I downloaded his entire ebook collection - his DCI Jim Daley series contains 12 books.

In March, I read the first two books in that series - Whisky From Small Glasses and The Last Witness. I put Meyrick on my list of writers to read, but things being the way they are, I didn't manage to continue the DCI Jim Daley series until January of this year. Two more books - Dark Suits and Sad Songs and The Rat Stone Serenade.

Having read four in the series, I think I can form a better opinion of the books. The stories are interesting enough and I like the characters, for the most part, but I've mixed feelings on the stories taking place in Scotland. I enjoy reading of the country and Meyrick's description of the scenery and customs of the people. I'm not, however a big fan of Meyrick's putting such a strong Scottish accent into the mouths of so many of his characters. It makes it a bit difficult for me to follow along at times.

Meyrick wrote the scenes as if he were writing a television program rather than a novel. The scenes jump back and forth at a quick pace......too quick for my tastes. And although the stories are interesting, they do tend to drag on in spots.

As I said, I enjoy his novels over all, although I wouldn't rank him as high as some of my other favorites (Donna Leon comes to mind).

Rereading Bram Stoker's Dracula

After having rewatched Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat's 2020 TV series Dracula on Netflix recently, I wanted to reread Bram Stoker's original novel. According to blog posts and book lists on my PC, I last read the book in January of 2016. Ten years ago this month.

I've seen countless film adaptations of the novel but it wasn't until the mid- 1970's that I first picked up the book. An older cousin of mine had given an annotated edition of the book to my younger brother and I picked it up then. Naturally, I don't recall much of the reading from over fifty years ago, other than I was turned off by the epistolary nature of the work. It's being a series of letters and diary entries kept me from rereading the book for many years.

As I said, it had been ten years since I last read Dracula and I suspected there would be much I'd forgotten. The book is very different than 99% of the film adaptations. Although some films follow the book better than others, I've never seen any Dracula film that is anywhere close to being 100% faithful to Stoker's novel.

The epistolary nature of the novel didn't bother me so much this time. What surprised me most was the fact that Count Dracula really isn't the main character as portrayed in film. We see him, of course when Harker comes to Transylvania at the beginning of the novel, but through out most of the book, the other characters take center stage.

There are long winded portions in the book and I wasn't happy about having to figure out Van Helsing's rather bizarre form of English. Still, it was a worthwhile read.

Replacing the Rear Tire

 

As I wrote earlier this week, I'd ridden my bicycle about 5,000 miles since I last changed my tires. The front tire had been getting frequent flats, so it was replaced on Monday. I had to wait until payday to replace the rear. The cost Monday to replace the tire and tube (including labor) came to ₱ 1,590. Today, for some reason, the cost was ₱ 1,525. Perhaps, the tech who replaced the tire Monday charged a little more for his labor. I had tipped the first tech ₱50. I gave the 2nd tech a ₱ 60 tip. I believe taking off the rear wheel is a bit more work.

The Bloody Chamber & other stories

The first book I've managed to read this year is The Bloody Chamber & other stories by Angela Carter. The stories within the book are explicitly based on fairy tales, although Carter's version are in no way written for children; some of the stories may be too explicit for some adults.

Her stories are based on such tales as Bluebeard, Beauty and the Beast, Puss and Boots and Little Red Riding Hood. Her versions will not be reproduced by Disney, I'm sure.

That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the book.....I did, but it's not at all like I expected. It's not often that one comes upon the word "cunt" in a collection of fairy tales.