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.

Leave it to Psmith

P. G. Wodehouse

You can’t just read one Wodehouse novel and move on, can you? I followed Something Fresh with Leave it to Psmith, the second novel in the Blandings Castle series. Though it wasn’t as hilarious as Something Fresh but definitely very entertaining. The absent-mindedness of Lord Emsworth, the silliness of Honourable Freddie, the alertness of the Efficient Baxter and the confusion that Psmith causes are super funny. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this.

Crampton Hodnet

Barbara Pym

Barbara Pym wrote this book while serving as a nurse in the second world war. It’s hard to imagine someone write a funny book in such circumstances. But she did. Which is why I was interested in reading this book. It’s a decent novel on the then popular theme of odd romantic entanglements. The story is pretty much predictable, but still there are some moments in the book when you can’t keep from smiling. I would certainly try more of her books in the future. Any recommendations?

Rosy Is My Relative

Gerald Durrell

What would you do if you woke up one day and found that you are an owner of an elephant? Will you live with it or get rid of it? Adrian Rookwhistle, the protagonist, has no choice. He has to live with it. And in living with it he goes on an adventure that promises smiles and laughters for the reader. In the Foreword, Gerald Durrell claims that almost all of the recorded incidents in this book actually happened. If that’s true, then there’s no doubt that the real life Adrian had one hell of an adventure.