What am I reading: Part 1: Gumshoes
Comfort Reading
I find it quite strange that my comfort reading is crime-fiction. Even strange that that was true for these last two years as well.
The past couple of years have been a cruel reminder of the fragility of not just human bodies but also of our institutions and systems. One can argue that crimes are a social aberration and therefore crime-fiction stories are also about social aberrations and hence about failing institutions - both social and administrative.
But people don’t want to be reminded of the horrors of cancer when they are awaiting the results of a biopsy! So why the hell did I go seeking comfort in stories about old timey murderers and criminals? In fact Agatha Christie novels and Holmes stories are regularly described as comfort reading. Why?
Perhaps because the murder always gets solved. Because there is always a polite gentleman who has all the answers. Because there is always a fireplace, next to which the mystery can be pondered upon.
These country estates with dark secrets, inherited fortunes are totally outside my experience of the world. In fact, I think that that world only exists in the pages of these books (in my case - in a DRM protected audio file on my phone). These stories are alluring precisely because it gives us an opportunity to indulge in a nostalgia for a world that maybe never existed.
I listened to a lot of Detective Maigret audiobooks. He is unique in the canon of literary detectives, in that he is not particularly smart. He is obviously intelligent but he is definitely not THE GREATEST DETECTIVE of all time. What I am saying is that when Maigret has to go to another town and introduce himself, people don’t say ‘Oh so you are the world famous Detective Maigret. I always wondered what you looked like’. He is a regular guy. I had read one or two of his books but they are quite difficult to find in book stores. At least they are, where I live.
The books are dated in some ways. The distasteful remarks about eastern-European people and Jewish communities are jarring even though not entirely unexpected.
The audio books I listened to are brilliantly narrated by Gareth Armstrong. Actually, the meta-text before the actual story begins uses the phrase - ‘performed by Gareth Armstrong’, and that is just perfect. I will honestly find it difficult to actually read the books.
These audiobook are a narration of the translation from its original publication language, and therefore there is the small problem of having to use different voices/accents for the different dialects present in the book. Putting aside the small matter that most listeners would be unfamiliar with the regional dialects of France, Armstrong who is British would also presumably not be able to reproduce those accents. These issues are circumvented by the use of different English accents, that are kept consistent across novels. These performances are BRILLIANT and I highly recommend everyone listen. My personal recommendation - ‘The Cellars of the Majestic’ [audiobook | paperback | kindle].
Speaking of audiobooks- it is a common trend to get actors who portrayed a character adapted from literature, to record audiobook versions of those books. See: Benedict Cumberbatch narrating a Sherlock Holmes compilation, Stephen Fry narrating a P.G. Wodehouse compilation, etc. Hugh Fraiser, who portrayed Captain Hastings in iTV's adaptation of the Poirot stories has narrated many Christie novels. I listened to Hugh Fraser's narration of ‘The Third Girl’ - one of the darker Christie novels. Funnily Hastings does not feature in this particular story. I also listened to several BBC radio adaptations of Christie novels. Some of them were full cast adaptations and one word - BRILLIANT! Speaking of radio adaptations - I used to listen to a podcast that was like an archive of radio adaptations of detective stories. Most of them - 20-30 minutes. Some of them were quite good. Please help me find what that podcast was….I can't be arsed to google.
Another mystery novel I listened to was an audiobook adaptation of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose. Is it actually a mystery novel? Not really. The 'mystery' track is just an excuse for Eco to talk about semiotics, religion, and symbols that represent symbols that symbolize other symbols. It is a strange book. There are clearly allusions to other works of literature, philosophy, theology that go over my head but I enjoyed whatever I did understand. There is also a Holmes connection. The central character is called 'William of Baskerville' - a Franciscan monk. The Hound of BASKERVILLE is one of the most famous Holmes stories and therefore one of the most famous stories of all time. William's companion in the novel? A Benedictine monk named ‘Adso’. A nod to John WATSON. How? If you remove the first and last letters from ‘Watson’, and replace 't' with 'd' because they are phonetically similar....you get Adso. If you think that's reading too much into a name...you haven't read the book.
Obviously, I also listened to Holmes. I am almost always listening to, or reading Sherlock Holmes stories.
See you in the next edition where I talk about the essay collections I read this year.
If you want to listen to the books I talked about above, try out my favourite audiobook service - Audible, by signing-up for a three month free trial using this link.
