The Headmaster's Wife

I finally finished Jane Haddam's The Headmaster's Wife after dragging it out over several weeks. Either I'm becoming spoilt by better writers, disenchanted by "cosies" or she's losing form. This one seemed to be almost 100 pages too long and overextended with some things left unresolved at the closing chapter. The Gregor Demarkian series by Haddam has been one of mixed enjoyments for me with some of the books stronger than others.

This one seemed to suffer a little from characters being ill-defined and the Gregor-Bennis romance/sexual tension drawn out more so than in the previous 21 efforts. Set in a private school, this outing sees Demarkian on his own - "Bennisless" - as he tries to track down a killer amidst a setting of New England liberal teachers and students, with a decent amount of sex sprinkled throughout. This, and the lack of the usual Armenian characters, is a new direction for Haddam and I'm not convinced it has worked for her.

I've been very well behaved and tried to ensure I read this series in order with the next three novels waiting patiently until this one arrived from the States. I can't say I'm greatly enamoured at present so it could be a while before I turn the pages of Hardscrabble Road.

Burn brightly, Pete

Currently reading...

Back to the books after a week or two off. I am currently on holidays for two weeks ( the upside of working at a private school) and kicked off my holidays by installing roller blinds onto the exterior of my house (I'm hopeless on ladders); cutting up old timber and trees for dumping; built and organised shelving on my back verandah; watched some old movies and TV series (Sullivan's Travels, The Stuntman and Spatacus - blood and boobs) and have now finally picked up where I left off reading.
I'm about to re-read Tywla Tharp's The Creative Habit - a distillation of her wisdom on the creative process as well as finding time to get back to Jane Haddam's The Headmaster's Wife - homicide, sex and scandal at a private school and a much lighter read than the previous novel I've just finished by Jo Nesbo. I've enjoyed Haddam's previous 20 or so Demarkian novels (I'm trying to be good and read them in their correct order). I've found them to be a reasonable sort of cosy detective novel - similar but superior to the old Agatha Christies I cut my teeth on when I was sixteen and just started to enjoy the process of reading (Thank you Miss Forsyth - my year 11 English teacher!).

Burn brightly, Pete.

Ups and Downs

Life of late seems even more rollercoasterish.... from the joys of watching a student produce a successful work - surprising classmates and themself.... to those moments of dark introspection when the black dog bites and the frustrations of the past month seem to bubble to the surface.

This month I've been given a free "Get out of Hell Card" from old mate David Millikan and I hope to be joining him and Susan on their property near Berry in NSW. David has been in Brisbane and Kingaroy recently working on a piece about a cultist who purports to be the reincarnated Jesus and we recently caught up. The woman in Dave's life is Susan Dermody, mother of aussie actress Maeve Dermody who is making waves in a newly released Aussie film "Griff the Invisible" so it promises to be an interesting time living with filmmakers again.

Road to Berry - Lloyd Rees  1947

Berry is the area where Lloyd Rees produced his iconic "The Road to Berry" as well as being near where Arthur Boyd lived and worked for so long producing his wonderful landscapes on the Shoalhaven River. So much of Australian art has such a strong sense of place and ownership of a locale so spending time talking about art and theology and life will hopefully renew my soul. One of my favourite authors, John Updike said there are three great things - art, sex and religion (we'll probably get around to third at some point - boys will be boys). I'm looking forward to the time off and the chance to unwind and sort through some of the accumulated clutter in my life at present.

Reading is on hold at the moment.

By the bedside is :

The Snowman - Jo Nesbo (Norwegian Noir on loan from a friend)

The Creative Habit - Twyla Tharp (40 years of wisdom on the creative process)

The Headmaster's Wife - Jane Haddam (American version of Agatha Christie)

Drive - Daniel Pink (The nature of human motivation and the mismatch between science and education's understanding of the process)

The Politics of God and the Politics of Man - Jacques Ellul (One of my favourite theologians  and ex-resistance fighter explores the political response)

Moonwalking with Einstein - Joshua Foer (cutting edge research and techniques for memory and total recall)

... and I've just recently picked up a book of Lichtenstein's Drawings and Prints to replace the Egon Schiele: Drawing and Watercolours I've recently completed.


So here's to the glimmer of hope in our lives as we reconsider, reconstruct and reconnect.

Burn Brightly, P.