The hazards of story research

Amazon is now firmly convinced that I am interested in buying luxury shaving paraphernalia for Christmas, and keeps sending me emails about sandlewood shaving soap and safety razors. Except that it's now given up on that as a bad job and wants to tell me about bargains in electric razors.

Dear Amazon algorithm: even if it was me and not my characters who was interested in these things, a clear interest in old-fashioned ways of shaving does not indicate an interest in electric razors.

I could really confuse it now and start shopping for women's electric razors. :-)

Book log September 2012

At this point I'm going to abandon any notion of doing a proper book log for the last three months. It's been long enough since reading some of the books that I couldn't really do a decent write-up anyway, and at the moment I'd rather focus my writing time on Nice Tie wordage. So it's going to be mostly a list of books read/listened to. Everything on the list below was at least readable, although I found some more enjoyable than others. Of particular note was the BBC AudioGO full cast dramatisation of Gaudy Night, which I think is a must-have for fans of Lord Peter as played by Ian Carmichael.

Book log September 2012

82) Victor Canning -- The Whip Hand
1965 thriller, the first of four featuring private eye Rex Carver. Carver accepts what is presented as a straightforward job of tracing a young woman, and ends up chasing around Europe in a murky plot where he's working for at least three different masters who may or may not be on different sides, and include at least one official intelligence organisation. Definitely a product of its time, in more ways than one, but good fun and well worth a read.
LibraryThing entry

83) Gladys Mitchell -- The Saltmarsh Murders
Mrs Bradley mystery.
LibraryThing entry

84) Mary Stewart -- Airs above the ground
LibraryThing entry

85) Margery Allingham -- More Work for the Undertaker [audiobook]
Albert Campion novel, abridged on 3 CDs and read by Philip Franks.
LibraryThing entry

86) Alexander McCall Smith -- The full cupboard of Life
Fifth in the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. As ever, gentle mystery novel about cases that may not be of high drama to the outside world, but matter very much to the people involved.
LibraryThing entry

87) Christopher Isherwood -- Mr Norris changes Trains
LibraryThing entry

88) Dorothy L Sayers -- Gaudy Night [audiobook]
Full cast dramatisation on 2 Cds by BBC AudioGO, with Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter Wimsey. Superb adaptation of the novel.
LibraryThing entry

Book log October 2012

And some more minimalist book log, this time for October.

89) Christopher Isherwood -- Goodbye to Berlin
LibraryThing entry

90) James Goss -- Ghost Train
Re-listen of the Torchwood audiobook, previously reviewed here: http://www.librarything.com/review/72306373

90) Christopher Isherwood -- A Single Man
LibraryThing entry

91) Dick Francis -- Field of 13
Collection of short stories from the master of race-horsing thrillers.
LibraryThing entry

92) Gladys Mitchell -- Death at the opera
Fifth Mrs Bradley mystery, and one of those adapted for the BBC series. Good fun, although be aware that the tv episode made significant changes.
LibraryThing entry

93) Ellis Peters -- The Virgin in the Ice [audio book]
BBC Radio 4 full cast dramatisation starring Philip Madoc as Brother Cadfael, in five episodes on two CDs. This is an excellent adaptation of the sixth novel in the Brother Cadfael series, and I think would work well even for those not already familiar with the novel.
LibraryThing entry

94) Agatha Christie-- Death by Drowning, & other stories [audio book]
Four short stories taken from the Miss Marple collection The Tuesday Night Club, and read by Joan Hickson on two CDs. The stories in this set are The Herb of Death, The Affair at the Bungalow, The Thumb Mark of St Peter, and Death by Drowning. Four excellent short stories, beautifully read by Hickson. If you're a fan of Christie, this set and the other two CD sets which together comprise the audiobook of The Tuesday Night Club are well worth getting.
LibraryThing entry