Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I are watching Comfy, Cozy movies this September and October and this week we watched the 1945 version of Blithe Spirit.
This is a movie my husband and I had started a few months ago and didn’t finish up because we got interrupted and distracted by life, so when Erin suggested it for our Comfy, Cozy Cinema, I was all for it.
After watching it, I can share that this was not one of my favorite movies overall but there were parts I enjoyed and performances I found very well done. I also found the dialogue brilliant.
Before I go into my impressions, here is a little online summary of the movie, which is based on a play by Noel Coward:
“Skeptical novelist Charles Condomine (Rex Harrison) invites self-proclaimed medium Madame Arcati (Margaret Rutherford) to his home for a séance, hoping to gather material for a new book. When the hapless psychic accidentally summons the spirit of Condomine’s late wife, Elvira (Kay Hammond), his home and life are quickly turned into a shambles as his wife’s ghost torments both himself and his new bride, Ruth (Constance Cummings). David Lean directed this adaptation of Noel Coward’s hit play.”
I am going to get this out of the way now – I could have completely done without Rex Harrison in this movie. I hated his character. In fact, none of the characters were likable to me, but, as Erin pointed out to me after I watched it, that’s really the point of the play/movie – hence the title.
After double-checking the definition of “blithe” it made even more sense.
Blithe: showing a casual and cheerful indifference considered to be callous or improper.
That is exactly how every character in this movie acted.
While watching this movie, I also started to wonder if Rex Harrison is only capable of playing, arrogant, tone-deaf, rude, and bullheaded characters.
After watching him in Dr. Doolittle and My Fair Lady and now this – I can’t help thinking his range of an actor didn’t go much beyond these typecasts. I’m teasing a bit here because I have not seen every Rex Harrison movie. If you know of one where he isn’t a total jerk, let me know in the comments.
During the whole film, I wanted to throat-punch Rex’s character. Repeatedly.
I mean, it could be a hormone issue (I am at that age) or Rex Harrison might really have just been that annoying of a human being in this movie.
I know he’s playing parts in his movies, but he did it so well that I imagine there must be some of himself in there. I’ll have to research that at some point.
What I did like about this movie was Margaret Rutherford and it is fitting that this is the movie where she became known nation-wide in the UK after already having established herself on the stage and on television.
I first heard her name when I was researching actresses who had played Miss Marple in the past. Her first film debut was in 1936 but it was this performance – as Madam Arcati – that is considered her breakout performance. There are two reasons she might have done so well as the character – she had already portrayed Madam Arcati in the stage version of Blithe Spirit and Coward actually wrote the part with her in mind.
According to Wikipedia, theatre critic Kenneth Tynan once said of her performances on stage: “The unique thing about Margaret Rutherford is that she can act with her chin alone.”
She received rave reviews of her performance on the stage and the movies – from both critics and audiences.
After watching this movie I can see why – she played the part of being a batty old lady very well and if you delve into her sad history and upbringing, you would see why. That’s another tale for another blog post, but I’ll leave the link to her Wikipedia page here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Rutherford
Be warned there is some sadness about her life in that article, but also some joy and a great deal of success for her.
Even if this wasn’t a favorite movie of mine, I did not hate it. There were many humorous and witty moments in this movie and overall the acting was very good. I think in the end it simply wasn’t what I had expected – mainly because I had never seen the play.
One of the funny quotes from the movie was one that was removed from the U.S. versions by censors when it first released.
During an argument with Ruth, Charles tells her, “If you’re trying to compile an inventory of my sex life, I feel it only fair to warn you that you’ve omitted several episodes. I shall consult my diary and give you a complete list after lunch.”
As I read what other viewers thought about the movie online I saw that most enjoyed the movie immensely but a few wrote that they found that the movie felt flat because they were comparing it to the stage version. In the stage version there was more of a chance for the actors to bounce of the audience and for the audience to respond with laughter, one reviewer said. In the movie version some felt the jokes and humor just fell flat.
I spent much of the movie not finding the humor very funny because I was so horrified how Harrison didn’t seem upset by any of the events that happened. Again, though, I needed to go back to that definition of blithe when I decided to rewatch some scenes before writing this post. After that I found some of the humor a little funnier and recognized it as being more tongue-in-cheek in some places.
Some viewers might sense the lack of humor in some places because the director, David Lean, apparently did not do a good job translating the play to film, at least according to Coward, who had worked with Lean on one of his previous plays being transferred to film, and enjoyed that experience.
Coward, in fact, informed Lean, after he saw a rough cut of the film, that Lean had “screwed up” (but used a much more colorful term) the best thing he’d ever written.
Harrison later commented on Dean: ““When you’re on a comedy like Blithe Spirit, it is awfully hard working for a director who has no sense of humor.”
According to Wikipedia Harrison wrote in his memoirs:
“Blithe Spirit was not a play I liked, and I certainly didn’t think much of the film we made of it. David Lean directed it, but the shooting was unimaginative and flat, a filmed stage play. He didn’t direct me too well, either – he hasn’t a great sense of humour…..Lean did something to me on that film which I shall never forget, and which was unforgivable in any circumstances. I was trying to make one of those difficult Noel Coward scenes work… when David said: “I don’t think that’s very funny.” And he turned round to the cameraman, Ronnie Neame, and said: “Did you think that was funny, Ronnie?” Ronnie said: “Oh, no, I didn’t think it was funny.” So what do you do next, if it isn’t funny?””
The play, by the way, was written in six days at a seaside resort, where Coward had gone to escape the Blitz, according to Criterion.com.
Geoffry O’Brien writes in the article on Criterion: “..Blithe Spirit brought superficiality to another level of ambition: what audacity to write a comedy about death in the midst of bombing that would claim tens of thousands of civilian lives, a comedy in which the memory of a lost love became material for a punch line and mortality served as simply a piquant sauce for the same sexual dilemmas that were the staple of Coward’s brand of drawing room comedy. Blithe Spirit may be defined as a very British sort of resistance literature, encouraging resistance to encroaching catastrophe by blithely ignoring it.”
If you would like to read more about O’Brien’s thoughts (even he touched on how much better it is to see the play either before you see the movie or instead), you can find his very interesting (and full of big words) article here:
https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2221-blithe-spirit-present-magic
I have to agree with O’Brien that the ending of the film is much more satisfying than the ending of the play, but I won’t share what I mean about that here in case you haven’t seen it yet.
I watched this one on Amazon Prime, where it was free with a subscription. It is also free right now on YouTube.
Read Erin’s impressions of the movie here: https://crackercrumblife.com/2024/10/10/comfy-cozy-cinema-blithe-spirit-1945/
Up next in our Comfy, Cozy Cinema is Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window. I’ve seen this one before but it’s been a few years so I am looking forward to watching it again and am glad that Erin suggested it.
Feel free to link up your own impressions of the movies at our link-ups. The links close at the end of the week but feel free to leave your blog post on future link-ups, even if it is for another movie.
Here is the rest of the schedule:
Also, don’t forget our Comfy, Cozy Care Package giveaway is still open until Oct. 15. We are giving away some things to make your autumn even cozier. The gifts include my book (Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing), Erin’s poetry compilation book, stickers, a journal, an autumn-themed mug, pumpkin-shaped chocolates, a book light, a blanket, and boxes of tea. We also hope to throw a few extras in to the winners!
You can enter anytime between today and October 15th, and the winner will be announced on our blogs on Thursday, October 17th. Please enter via Rafflecopter and it is only open to those 18 or older living in the US.” You can enter here: https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/3614a4fa2/?
You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
<aComfy, Cozy Care Package Giveaway!
Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs came up with an awesome idea to offer a giveaway with our Comfy, Cozy Cinema this year and that giveaway is open! You have until Tuesday, Oct. 15 to enter it and the chance to win the items pictured here and a few more we are tossing in at the last minute!
Erin and I both have included books in the giveaway – a poetry collection put together by her and the first book in my cozy mystery series – Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing – from me.
We also have a journal in there, stickers, an autumn-themed mug, chocolate pumpkins (so cute!), tea, a booklight to read your cozy books with, and I’ll also be adding a cozy blanket for you to curl up under and these cute little corner bookmarks for you to mark the page of whatever book you are reading.
To enter you can follow this link (the embed feature won’t work on WordPress for some reason).
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/3614a4fa2/?
We’re asking you to follow our blogs, our Instagram, my Substack, and Erin’s Etsy to gain entries.
We are not going to use your email addresses for anything other than confirming you followed, etc. so don’t worry that you’re being added to a mailing list. You are not. The addresses will not be kept in any way on our end.
We are so excited to offer this comfort package so please take a chance to win it! This giveaway is for U.S. residents 18 years of age or older. It is in no way associated with WordPress or Meta or any of their affiliates.
Sunday Bookends: birthdays, mysteries, and other random things
It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, what the rest of the family and I have been reading and watching, and what I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.
This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer, Deb at Readerbuzz, and Kathyrn at The Book Date.
What’s Been Occurring
This past week we celebrated Little Miss’s 10th birthday and I rambled about that on my Saturday Chat post yesterday.
Autumn has arrived here and, unfortunately, we are losing a lot of our leaves before they can change this year. We still have some pretty trees and our yard is covered in pretty orange and yellow leaves.
The nights are getting colder and the cats want to cuddle more to try to keep themselves warm.
Last year we started lighting the wood stove in mid-October but hopefully, we can make it until November this year because we want to make sure we have enough wood to make it through winter. We have heating oil but we hate to turn the heat on until it gets very, very cold. As I am starting to write this Saturday night, it is actually very, very cold with a temp of 52. It’s supposed to drop as low as 44 by early morning.
We had a semi-busy week last week but we don’t have much planned for next week, other than schoolwork.
What I/we’ve been Reading
I am currently reading The Secret of Red Gate Farm by Carolyn Keene (A Nancy Drew Mystery) and A Handcrafted Murder by Isabella Alan.
I also started The Case of the Innocent Husband (A Mac and Sam Mystery Book 1)
Move Your Blooming Corpse by D.E. Ireland. I enjoyed this one and stayed up late Friday night to finish it while my cat laid on my chest and tried to lay on the book as well.
The Cat Who Brought Down the House by Lilian Jackson Braun
The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood
Little Miss and I are reading The Four Story Mistake by Elizabeth Enright via Hoopla.
She has also started the first book in the Harry Potter series, which she somehow thought she wasn’t allowed to read until she was 10. I’m not sure where she got that in her head, but she’s started it now that she is 10.
What We watched/are Watching
This week I watched Kiki’s Delivery Service as part of Erin of Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and my Comfy, Cozy Cinema.
Up next we will be watching Blithe Spirit (1945).
This past week I also watched part of a Nancy Drew movie, Just A Few Acres Farm on YouTube and more Lovejoy.
What I’m Writing
I’m almost done with Gladwynn Grant Shakes The Family Tree.
Last week on the blog I shared:
- Saturday Afternoon/Evening Chat: Little Miss Turns 10, roller rinks, sleep overs, and cuddly cats.
- Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot! Come Link Up With Us!
- Comfy, Cozy Cinema: Kiki’s Delivery Service and a Comfy, Cozy Giveaway
- Book Review/Recommendation: Trouble Shooter by Louis L’Amour
- Top Ten Tuesday: 8 books I Read Because of the Hype — and 2 I avoided because of the hype
- Book Review/Recommendation: An Assassination On The Agenda
- Book review: A Simple Deduction
Now it’s your turn
Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.
Saturday Afternoon/Evening Chat: Little Miss Turns 10, roller rinks, sleep overs, and cuddly cats.
This week Little Miss turned 10 and that’s pretty surreal for me.
It truly does seem like this time with her has gone by so incredibly fast.
It seems like just yesterday – or at least only a year ago – she was pulling herself up to a standing position on her little chair at 9 months old, ready to walk so she could follow her older brother.
She didn’t crawl.
She only rolled over once.
She didn’t even Army crawl.
All she wanted to do was walk and she did – very early and very fast.
She was very short, like her mom, so there were many people who couldn’t believe what they were seeing. How could she already be walking?
I don’t know either but Little Miss has always been a very determined little girl who knows what she wants and how to get it.
We celebrated her on her actual birthday with a trip to an area restaurant because she likes to go to restaurants. The food at the place is very good but The Husband and I had only visited there as a couple and hadn’t taken the kids yet. This was their first experience and they really enjoyed themselves. It was a rainy, misty, chilly day and most of the businesses in the small town we drove to were closed so we stopped by a free little library and then kept going home.
Thursday we all had dinner at my parents’ where we also played charades because Little Miss loves to do that.
Yesterday Little Miss had a sleepover with a friend. Remember when I said we weren’t doing any more sleepovers? Well, it was the only thing she’d asked for for her birthday and it was only with one friend.
We also took them roller skating, which my parents paid for as her gift because she likes to go skating, but we just don’t get around to take her to the roller rinks near us like we should. That is probably because there are three roller rinks in our area and they are all an hour away in one direction or the other. I am glad that my mom prompted us to do this because it really was a lot of fun for the kids.
I haven’t visited the rink we ended up going to for more than 25 years, so I wasn’t sure what to expect but the place really looked great. It is located along a lakeside campground, and it has been there for years and year and years. I don’t know how many because it didn’t say on their site, but I know it’s been a very long time because I was probably about Little Miss’s age when I first visited it.
I would definitely say that they have renovated over the years based on how great the skating rink floor looks, but some of it feels the same – the big round table-like seats where you sit to put your skates on, the booths where you can sit to eat, the garbage food they served (microwaved pizza, microwaved nachos and cheese, candy and sodas).
The music they were playing was from the 90s and early 2000s so it felt even more like my teen years.
My friend – the mom of Little Miss’s friend — was there as well (she brought another one of her kids with her), and we were both chuckling at some of the music and our memories wrapped around them.
When I was a kid, we visited a different skating rink (now closed) with our church a couple of times, and my dad remembers how one night one of the ladies from the church sprained her ankle, my brother broke his thumb, and someone else was injured too, but we can’t remember how. What Dad can remember is that a lot of people came into church the next morning limping and groaning.
There was a roller rink in the town we used to live in that was over 100 years old. It is still going and still owned by the same family. I think we might try to visit that one again sometime this year, but the kids who visit that rink are a little rougher around the edges – shall we say. I visited it for one of the night skates with my nieces one year many years ago and there were these little cliques and gangs in various corners of the rink. It was like the social hub for the area teenagers in many ways. There was the cool kids group and the not-so-cool kids and then the kids who didn’t care about any of that – they just wanted to skate.
My nieces wanted snacks and I think they were flirting with some of the boys and I didn’t know what was going to go down so I finally pulled them away and took them home. It was all a bit overwhelming but it was the main place for kids to hang out in the town and the owners are good people who would keep them safe.
I love that we still have these old roller rinks around here. They are just good, clean fun for kids and gets them out of the house and doing activity that isn’t too strenuous but isn’t too boring either.
These two roller rinks near us still host the skating games they used to do back in the old days – limbo, four corners, and other games. Little Miss won the game of limbo and earned a free pass for another night of skating, so we hope to visit the rink again sometime in the future. They offer daytime skates in the winter so we plan to do that since this rink is located in the middle of nowhere where there are plenty of deer to it at night.
When we first left to drive there – at 6 I laughed and said, “I usually have my pajamas on at this time and am cozying up for the night.”
The Husband and I have always been homebodies and rarely go to events after 5 pm. Part of the reason I prefer not to drive at night is because I have horrible night vision. I can’t see well and our car’s headlights aren’t great. It makes me very nervous. Another reason I don’t like to go out after 5 or really socialize much at all is I had my fill when I worked 50-70 hours a week at small town newspapers covering every event imaginable.
As a natural introvert I had to force myself to be social to get the story and I forced myself so often I think I broke something in me. Now that I’ve been gone from newspapers for so long, even going to a store and having to talk to the clerk stresses me out.
The Husband doesn’t like to go out on his days off because he socializes constantly all week long in his job as a small town newspaper editor and reporter.
When we got back to the house after skating, I thought the girls might just fall right to sleep. They had spent the entire day playing outside (the trampoline, riding scooters, jumping in leaves, and then two hours of skating). They lasted a little longer and then fell asleep so hard that Little Miss’s friend didn’t even change positions for five hours.
We all slept downstairs – them on an air mattress and me on the couch. In our area there are a few ways to tell it is getting cold. One is that you start to see people around town wearing light, but still warm, jackets. Two, you’ll start to smell woodsmoke as people begin to light their fires. And three, family cats start to cuddle more.
Our cats are fairly aloof all summer but around anywhere from mid-September to the middle of October they will gradually begin to come inside earlier after being outside hunting, lurking, or harassing other neighborhood cats, all day. Once they are inside they will stare at one of the humans for a few second or minutes – usually me – and then pounce – running up onto the body of said human and laying on their stomach or chest, expecting the chosen one to be honored and in awe that they have been chosen.
They will then kneed, curl up, purr, rub their faces and body all over the chosen one and attempt to make the chosen one their bed for the next few hours, whether the chosen one wants it or not.
Our youngest cat (Scout) is the one who curls up on me the most but last night she picked The Husband as the chosen one before bed. About 5 a.m. Scout woke me up by crawling onto my chest and anytime I get woke up my brain tells me I have to go to the bathroom so I did that and came back to the couch which is when Scout made my hip her bed. Two hours later I was up again and had to move her for another bathroom break. At this point the older cat, Pixel, who normally hates to be anywhere near Scout and hisses at her for even existing, decided she’d put with Scout simply so she could now use my body as her bed.
At this point Scout was curled up on the couch by my knees and Pixel was using my hip as the bed. The couch isn’t very wide so this was a very uncomfortable position to be in but it is also a very rare occurrence for them to be so close to each other without Pixel smacking Scout repeatedly in the head, so I did my best not to move and upset the experience.
My hips, back, neck, and – well – my entire body paid for that the rest of the day but I think it was worth it.
Little Miss’s friend has gone home now and we will all be in our own beds tonight. I am truly looking forward to that because if the cats do curl up on or next to me, at least I’ll have more room – in theory anyhow.
How was your week last week? Do anything exciting or interesting? Let me know in the comments.
Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot! Come Link Up With Us!
Welcome to another Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot hosted by Marsha in the Middle, Melynda from Scratch Made Food & DYI Homemade Household, Sue from Women Living Well After 50, and me. Look for the link party to go live on Thursdays at 9:30pm EDT.
This is a blog link-up where we not only allow you to share your past posts but we encourage it. So share away!
This week’s most clicked posts were:
|| Fall Porch Fun and Creating A Halloween Moon by Thrifting Wonderland ||
My highlights this week are:
|| What’s Up Wednesday in September by Slices of Life ||
|| My August Flower Garden by Amy’s Pursuits ||
|| Van Gogh School Reunion by Is This Mutton ||
I’m so glad you are here and participating in our weekly link-up of family-friendly, fun, educational, interesting, crafty, fashionable, and whatever else posts. I hope you’ll tell your followers about our post (feel free to copy and paste the graphic) and visit the blogs in the link-up.
Now it is your turn to link up your favorite posts. They can be fashion, lifestyle, DIY, food, etc. All we ask is that they be family-friendly. You can link up posts from last week or even from years ago. You can share up to three links each week.
We are always looking for additional hosts so let us know if you want to help out and we are also looking for more links from fashion bloggers so let your fashion bloggers know!
Also, please take the time to visit the other blogs on the link-up and meet some new bloggers!
Comfy, Cozy Cinema: Kiki’s Delivery Service and a Comfy, Cozy Giveaway
Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I are watching Comfy, Cozy movies this September and October and this week we watched Kiki’s Delivery Service, a Studio Ghibli animated movie.
We are also announcing a very fun and exciting giveaway for a comfy, cozy gift basket which you can enter to win at the giveaway link at the bottom of this post!
Kiki’s Delivery Service was released in 1989 in Japan by Hayao Miyazaki, a Japanese animator and filmmaker, and was based on a book called Witches Express Delivery Service.
The movie was animated by Studio Ghibli (which Miyazaki was a founder of) for Tokuma Shoten, Yamato Transport, and the Nippon Television Network.
According to information online, “The English dub was produced by Streamline Pictures for Japan Airlines international flights in 1989. Walt Disney Pictures produced an English dub in 1997, which became the first film under a deal between Tokuma and Disney to be released in English. It was released to home media in 1998.”
This was a very sweet movie with little action but a lot of heart.
First the background – Kiki is a witch and the tradition is that witches leave home at the age of 13 and travel away from their family for a year to learn what their skill in life is.
Kiki’s mother insists she take her old, reliable broomstick so Kiki flies off into the night with her all black cat JiJi and finds a small town to settle in. She ends up living with a baker and starts a delivery service – delivering packages with the use of her broom.
The bakery is owned by Osono and her husband, Fukuo, who are expecting a child.
Kiki also meets a friend – a boy named Tombo who wants to be her friend more than she wants to be his for most of the movie. Tombo likes to invent things – especially things with the potential to fly. At one point he invites Kiki to his aviation club but Kiki gets wrapped up in deliveries and gets caught in a rainstorm. This causes her to become very sick but Osono nurses her back to health and then pretends to have a delivery sent to Tombo so Kiki can see him and apologize.
During her first delivery, Kiki loses the toy she’s supposed to deliver and then she and her cat – who talks by the way – work to find a way to get it back to the child it belongs to.
Much of the movie is like this – just little stories or adventures that aren’t very exciting in some ways, but are calming and sweet.
It isn’t until more than halfway through the movie that more conflict arises because Kiki seems to be losing her powers, which she first notices when she can no longer understand JiJi.
Studio Ghibli is the design studio for many Japanese animated movies. Later many of these movies are dubbed into English and sometimes feature well-known American actors. In the one I watched (which was the Disney dubbed one from 1997) Kiki was voiced by Kiersten Dunst and the cat was voiced by Phil Hartman.
Kiki’s Delivery Service focuses on themes of independence and finding your place in this world.
It was the first Studio Ghibli film to find commercial success soon after being released – earning $31 million.
I wasn’t as swept up in this one as in previous Studio Ghibli films but as it continued it grew on me. It was a very quiet film and some of the Studio Ghibli films have a little more action so I wasn’t ready for it to be so toned down. Once I got into the story, though, I enjoyed it. The scenery and art, as in all Studio Ghibli films, was really beautiful.
I was rooting for Kiki – especially once she lost her powers and seemed confused about her next step.
While the makers of the movie and critics said the movie focuses on themes of maturity and independence, I also saw a strong theme of friendship, family, and trust.
Have you ever seen this one? What did you think?
Read Erin’s impressions of the movie here: https://crackercrumblife.com/2024/10/03/comfy-cozy-cinema-kikis-delivery-service/
Coming up next week will be the 1945 version of Blithe Spirit.
Feel free to link up your own impressions of the movies at our link-ups. The links close at the end of the week but feel free to leave your blog post on future link-ups, even if it is for another movie.
Also, Erin and I are announcing our Comfy, Cozy Gift Basket Giveaway today.
I’m just going to copy what Erin wrote to share here because I am lazy *wink*: “We have some fun little goodies to be sent off to one winner, with more surprises to be added as well! We want to celebrate the season and this is just one way we would like to do that this year.
You can enter anytime between today and October 15th, and the winner will be announced on our blogs on Thursday, October 17th. Please enter via Rafflecopter and it is only open to those 18 or older living in the US.” You can enter here: https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/3614a4fa2/?
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Book Review/Recommendation: Trouble Shooter by Louis L’Amour
Book Title: Trouble Shooter (A Hopalong Cassidy book)
Author: Louis L’Amour
Genre: Western
Description:
Hopalong Cassidy is one of the most enduring and popular heroes in frontier fiction. His legendary exploits in books, movies, and on television have blazed a mythic and unforgettable trail across the American West. Now, in the last of four Hopalong Cassidy novels written by Louis L’Amour, the immortal saddleman rides againthis time into a lonely valley of danger and death.
Hopalong Cassidy has received an urgent message from the dead. Answering an urgent appeal for help from fellow cowpuncher Pete Melford, he rides in only to discover that his old friends has been murdered and the ranch Pete left to his niece, Cindy Blair, had vanished without a trace. Hopalong may have arrived too late to save Pete, but his sense of loyalty and honor demands that he find that cold-blooded killers and return to Cindy what is rightfully hers.
Colonel Justin Tradwar, criminal kingpin of the town of Kachina, is the owner of the sprawling Box T ranch, and he has built his empire with a shrewd and ruthless determination. In search of Pete’s killers and Cindy’s ranch, Hopalong signs on at the Box T, promising to help get Tradway’s wild cattle out of the rattler-infested brush. But in the land of mesquite and black chaparral, Cassidy confronts a mystery as hellish as it is hauntinga bloody trail that leads to the strange and forbidding Babylon plateau, to $60,000 in stolen gold, and to a showdown with an outlaw who has already cheated death once… and is determined to do it again.
My Thoughts:
Trouble Shooter by Louis L’Amour was not listed under L’Amour’s name when it first came out in 1951. Instead, it was released under the name Clarence E. Mulford, the original creator of Hopalong Cassidy, the main character of the book. When Mulford retired, he asked L’Amour to carry on Hopalong’s tradition in four novels, which included Trouble Shooter, The Rustlers of West Fork, The Trail to Seven Pines, and the Riders of High Rock.
The books were published on L’Amour’s name in the 1990s when they were re-released.
I ended up liking Trouble Shooter a lot more than I thought I would when I first started it. Once I realized that the book was written in the style of another writer and that it was written in the 1950s, I began to adjust to the style of writing and storytelling. I found myself pulled into the story a bit more as it went along, despite the old style of writing, which included what writers call “head hopping.” This is where the thoughts of each character involved in a scene are shared instead of the point of view being from just the one character. This can get a little bit confusing but L’Amour didn’t over do it.
The way the sentences were structured threw me off at times but I thought the prose really was well-written. I wasn’t as interested in the lengthy description of Hopalong Cassidy climbing a mountain or riding long distances in the middle of nowhere and would have loved for the female characters to have been flushed out a bit more, but I still liked the overall story.
I didn’t expect the ending to take such a dark turn since most of the book was mild when it came to the discussions of violence. There was very little to no descriptions of violence at all and any descriptions offered were very surface level. There were no obscenities in the book and no sex at all – not even hinted at.
This was definitely a stripped back Western. There were some descriptions but none of them went on for pages. There were some slow parts for me but I wanted to know the answer to the mystery introduced in the beginning so I kept reading.
A couple of lines I enjoyed and thought were well-written:
“Hopalong Cassidy had drawn his gun as he always drew, with flashing, incredible speed. Once his hand was empty, then filled, and the gun blasting death.”
“The heat was a living thing, and he touched his lips only a little with the water in his canteen, then pushed on. Dust devils danced across a vast, empty distance marked by nothing but the trail of two riders. And then out of the north came another trail, a trail of several riders that moved in and obliterated the trail they followed.”
“Through the storm clouds the afternoon sun sent streaks of cathedral light across the sky and first spattering of drops fell, dappling the ground and making the dust jump.”
“Even if he isn’t dead, he might have reformed, and if a man has reformed, I’d have to judge him according to what he is now, but I’d advise him to keep his name to himself.”
If you would like to read more about Louis L’Amour, you can do so here:
Top Ten Tuesday: 8 books I Read Because of the Hype — and 2 I avoided because of the hype
|| Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. ||
Today’s topic is: Books I Read/Avoided Because of the Hype (and did you make the right choice?)
For this one, I decided to share eight books I read because of the hype and two I avoided.
First, the ones I read because of the hype:
How To Solve Your Own Murder by Kristin Perin
It was the hype on Netgalley that hooked me on this one. Reviewers were calling it the Knives Out of mystery books so I decided to give it a go and I ended up really enjoying it – with the exception of a couple issues and two unnecessary swear words.
The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett
I’ve heard a lot about this book over the years and had seen the movie years ago so figured I needed to give it a try. I ended up enjoying it but wanted more from the ending.
Little Women by Louisa Mae Alcott
I think I got sick of women gushing about this book and having no idea what they were talking about. I’d seen a few versions of the movie but never read the book. Now that I have I think the book lived up to the hype. I fell in love with the book and plan to re-read it each Christmas season now.
Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne
I’ve heard a lot about this classic book over the years, but, again, never read it. I finally did that last year as part of my son’s English curriculum and ended up feeling like the book did live up to the hype.
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
After all of my family fell all over these movies and my much, much older brother read it in high school or college or whatever (I can’t remember. It was sooo long ago.), I figured I’d better try it too. I didn’t think I was going to make it because of all the tree descriptions but I ended up falling in love with the characters and, in the end, the book. I can’t read to read the other two installments.
The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kipp by Sara Brunsvold
This was huge in Christian Fiction circles when it came out.
I think the hype is warranted for this one but I’ve never been able to actually finish it. Not because it isn’t good but because the topic is heavy and I have older parents and I’m struggling with that so the topic of an elderly woman with a terminal illness is a hard one for me to read. I do plan to finish it though.
The Mistletoe Countess by Pepper Basham
In this instance, I didn’t make the right choice for me. I found the main characters irritating, the marriage of convenience trope ridiculous, and the suggestive comments about the sex the morning after really uncomfortable, even though they weren’t graphic. This was a Christian fiction book and this book and the reaction of Christian readers to it, was particularly grating to me because I was condemned for a kiss scene in one of my books by Christian readers but they had no issues with this author’s main character being giddy over getting to have sex with the man she was “forced” to marry and then daydreaming about their night together the next morning for a full page and a half.
It was weird to me but I’ve learned there are as many hypocritical Christian fiction readers out there as there are crooked politicians. It’s weird the things Christian Fiction readers will embrace and the things they will reject. It seems to change every other month or so. I have just never understood the readers of that genre and their absolute love for marriage of convenience books.
That trope is so disgusting to me – being forced to marry someone you don’t love and then supposedly falling in love with that person. I mean what cheap thrill do these women get out of that? I have no earthly idea.
The Mysterious Affair of Styles by Agatha Christie
I had heard a lot about this first Poirot book within the cozy mystery reader circle over the years and so when my husband suggested it, I decided to give it a go. I ended up really liking it but not liking the antisemitism buried in some places. Great story, but Agatah had some issues there, which is something I wrote about on the blog earlier this year.
Two books I avoided because of the hype:
50 Shades of Gray
Yes, this self-proclaimed prude tried this book because I had NO idea what it was about. I barely made it into it when it hit me what was going on and the book was returned to Amazon for a full refund and I never touched it again. Sex is one thing. Abuse and domination is another and I do not read those kinds of books at all.
Fourth Wing
I know. I know. But ….just not my thing. Not a fantasy or a smut reader so I avoided it. So many people loved this book and if you did – that’s awesome. It’s just not my thing. That’s all!
What are some of the books you read or avoided because of the hype?
Book Review/Recommendation: An Assassination On The Agenda
I love the Lady Hardcastle Mysteries and once again I was not disappointed. An Assassination On The Agenda is the eleventh book in the series and released earlier this year.
Description:
July 1912. Lady Hardcastle and her tenacious lady’s maid, Florence Armstrong, are enjoying a convivial gathering at the home of their dear friends, the Farley-Strouds. The only fly in the idyllic ointment seems to be the lack of musical entertainment for the forthcoming summer party—until, that is, Lady Hardcastle’s brother Harry calls with news of a murder.
Harry dispatches them to Bristol on behalf of the Secret Service Bureau, with instructions to prevent the local police from uncovering too much about the victim. It seems an intriguing mystery—all the more so when they find a connection between the killer and an impending visit from an Austrian trade delegation, set to feature a very important guest…
Summoned to London to help with some very important security arrangements, the intrepid duo will have to navigate sceptical bureaucrats, Cockney gangsters and shadowy men in distinctive hats in their attempts to foil an explosive—and internationally significant—threat.
My thoughts:
Once again, the pairing of Lad Hardcastle and her partner in solving crime, her maid Florence “Flo” Armstrong was the breeding ground for early 1900s humor and entertainment.
In this installment we see the two women, already known to be spies and operatives for the British government in the past sent on yet another mission. This time they are summoned from their country home to Bristol and their goal is to find out about a group of men who may be trying to commit an assassination that will start a war.
We see Lady Hardcastle’s brother Harry and sister-in-law Lavinia (nicknamed Jake) again in this book and as usual I love the bantering between the siblings, which fits in nicely with the bantering between employee and employer, though Lady Hardcastle always treats Flo as her equal.
I read this one on my Kindle but when I had to do dishes or drive somewhere I listened to it on Audible with amazing narration by Elizabeth Knowelden, who is the narrator for most, if not all the other Lady Hardcastle books on Audible.
I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book but was not asked to give anything other than my honest opinion. Let’s be honest, I was going to read this book even if a complimentary copy had not been provided to me.
