April Books: More Fiction and a Short Story Collection

 There were a couple of classic fiction titles among my April books, along with a disturbing short story collection.

Last Ditch by Ngaio Marsh

This is the 29th in the author’s Roderick Alleyn series. I have three more to read. In this book, Alleyn and Troy’s son, Ricky, is grown and goes to a Channel Island village to work on a book. He meets some old friends of his parents there and one day, when they are riding, they come across dead equestrian who appears to have had a terrible accident. But was it an accident or was it somehow involved with the drug smuggling ring that may be operating in the area? Alleyn is sent in to find out, but his job is complicated by Ricky’s involvement. As with the other books in the series, I enjoyed this one a lot. I’ll be sorry when I reach the end.

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (Phoebe Reads a Mystery podcast)

It appears that Phoebe is branching out from the usual mysteries, as this was the latest book she read, one or two chapters per day. I am always glad when she is reading a book I enjoy. 

This book revolves around the Dashwood family, particularly sisters Marianne and Eleanor, who live with their mother and younger sister in a cottage. They’ve gone to the cottage after the husband/father dies and the estate they had been living in reverted to another family member and his snobbish wife. This turn of events meant that the Dashwood women were forced to live on less money, so finding an affordable home took a while and they had to stay in the large house for some months after the death of Mr Dashwood, much to the dismay of the new mistress of the house. She was even more unhappy when Eleanor and the snob’s brother, Edward, became very close. It was a relief to everyone when a relative of Mrs Dashwood’s offered them the cottage to live in. Shortly after moving in, Marianne took a bad fall while out walking. She was rescued by a hiker, Willoughby, who was a frequent visitor to the Dashwood home after that. He and Marianne began a relationship, as they were also a part of the same social group. Various people move in and out of the story, as Eleanor and Marianne meet new people and spend some time in London with an older woman who befriends them. There are disappointments along the way, not just for the main characters, but for some of the others, too.

It is commonly thought that Eleanor represents the sense of the title and Marianne the sensibility (feelings). But after the audiobook was done, I listened to a video in which a persuasive case was made that this is overly simplistic. The examples provided did show that quite the opposite was true, at least some of the time. 

We Are Attempting to Survive Our Time by A.L. Kennedy

This is a relatively new addition to the e-book section of the library website. I am a fan of short stories, so I borrowed it. After reading (most of) it, I am not sure I would read more by this author. It’s not that she isn’t a wonderful writer. The writing and the stories were powerful, but I can’t exactly say I enjoyed the book. The stories were unsettling at best and distressing at worst. I found one so disturbing that I did not read beyond the first couple of pages and I am sorry that I have the memories from those in my head. The other stories were not so disturbing, but some were uncomfortable and some contained a creeping sense of menace, as I gradually saw where the story was going. Again, the fact that she could evoke such feelings is a testament to her skill. But while I could appreciate that, it was not an easy book to read from the perspective of the feelings evoked. 

All the stories were written as a kind of monologue, in an almost stream-of-consciousness sort of way and all but one, if memory serves, were written from a first person perspective.

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