The Sea, The Sea

Iris Murdoch

Charles Arrowby is a theater director, playwright and an actor. He is a popular figure of the London theatre who retires and goes to live in a house by the sea in a hope of writing his memoir. While he is at it, we meet the real Charles Arrowby. We realise, just like a sea, deep down he is not what he appears to be from the outside. I enjoyed reading this more than any other Murdoch books that I have read so far. Clearly, it’s my favourite Murdoch book.

Red Harvest

Dashiell Hammett

Has it happened with you as well that a highly praised book just fails to entertain you as much as it did others? (How do you feel then?) Hammett’s Red Harvest is about a Continental Op who arrives at Personville to solve a murder mystery. The eerie description of Personville and the dialogues really got me interested when I started the book, but as the story moved ahead I began to lose interest. Perhaps it’s not my type. I am more into the noir fiction of Jim Thompson and Derek Raymond. They are my favourites.