Nurse Matilda
by Christianna Brand (E.P. Dutton, 1964)
audiobook read by Phyllida Law (BBC Audio, 2009)
Something of a one-note story. Nurse Matilda teaches an unruly horde of children to behave… by magicking them into gross over-indulgences of their original, naughty conduct. The book ends in a wearisome fever-dream recap of preceding events. The children are reformed. Bing.
Scientific Progress Goes “Boink”
by Bill Watterson (Andrews McMeel, 1991) [reprinted Sphere, 2007]
![Book cover: “Scientific Progress Goes ‘Boink’” by Bill Watterson (Andrews McMeel, 1991) [reprinted Sphere, 2007]](https://www.derelictspacesheep.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Watterson_Scientific-Progress-Goes-Boink.jpg)
The format is a little cramped (three dailies per page, Sunday strips in black-and-white). Watterson remains as creative as ever—the macabre snowmen!—yet the collection as a whole edges a bit too close to melancholy. What place imagination in this world?
Something Fresh
by P G Wodehouse (Methuen, 1915)
audiobook read by Frederick Davidson (Blackstone, 1995)
The first Blandings Castle novel evinces much of Wodehouse’s penchant for twisty intertwinings of plot, and even more of his fondness (particularly in the early days) for facetious observation and scathing characterisation. Compared to later works, however, it’s all a bit artificial.
Hydra
by Ian Stewart (Analog, February 1993)
Not so much a short story as the author’s midnight musings on Von Neumann Probes, tacked onto the end of an all-female deep-space mining scenario. While big on character conflict, Stewart skips though action sections as if wielding a mis-firing magic eraser.
Lucy Rules OK?
by Charles M. Schulz (Hodder and Stoughton, 1978)
At time of printing there were fewer than 1,000 Peanuts Sunday strips to choose from. Still this is a very patchy collection. Of the forty-three selected (colour, A4), few do Lucy justice. In most she is an incidental character (or absent altogether!).
Maskerade
by Terry Pratchett (Victor Gollancz, 1995)
audiobook read by Indira Varma (Penguin, 2022)
Pratchett takes aim at opera and in doing so makes some serious points about stereotyping. The mystery is a bit muddled, the humour at times over-egged (though still great fun). Indira Varma’s audiobook reading is perfect for Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg.
Stop Press
by Michael Innes; audiobook read by Matt Addis (Bolinda, 2013)
originally published as “The Spider Strikes” (Dodd, Mead and Company, 1939)
A triumph of sustained tedium. Innes wields a beautiful turn of phrase, yet Appleby’s only notable achievement across 17+ audiobook hours of pointless, pontificating conversations, plumping out of superfluous characters and mendacious touting of murder in the offing, is to stay awake.
Blake’s 7, Series 1
by Terry Nation (BBC, 1978)
Terry Nation’s scripts present as increasingly ham-fisted but the guest stars are generally very good and the regulars are so well cast as to become immediately iconic. The edgy character dynamics give the programme punch beyond its dated parade of SF tropes.
The Island of Adventure
by Enid Blyton (Macmillan, 1944); audiobook read by Thomas Judd (Bolinda, 2021)
Blyton spends far too long on the pre-adventure, holiday-atmosphere buildup. While the children are slow to cotton on, the danger does at last manifest (and with a harder edge). Memorable mostly for Kiki the parrot and Philip and Dinah’s bickering sibling relationship.
Money in the Morgue
by Ngaio Marsh & Stella Duffy (Collins Crime Club, 2018)
The murder mystery is astutely handled. Inspector Alleyn appears earlier than usual and the entire affair takes place over the course of one night, adding a sense of urgency. The espionage angle is less convincing—perhaps explaining why Marsh abandoned the work-in-progress?