boreders

I’ve just been watching a new episode of Bones, and realized it isn’t very good. Oh, I like the concept well enough, the characters within the ensemble, the witty banter, and more than one of the actresses. However, I find the stories deeply unsatisfying.

If I watch a detective series, I want to stand a cat-in-hell’s chance of solving the crime myself, with or before the characters. I have found, of late, that too many episodes have murderers who were at best extras with a fleeting influence on the story or hinge on evidence so flimsy as to be laughable. In a recent episode where a guy died in a safari reserve, it turned out the killer was a nurse at the victim’s hospital we heard in passing 10 minutes into the story and then not again until the conclusion. I might need to review the content of the episode, but I’m sure there was nothing that would have allowed you to pin the crime on her from facts gleaned in the story. Really, I could be wrong, but if I’m not feeling satisfied, then it isn’t really working as planned. In the last episode, they listed dozens of substances that might have left a false positive on a forensic test, then latched onto pond scum – which linked the crime to one of three characters… Despite the fact one of the other substances being cleaning fluid. Daft!

I may just stick to reading the books… They seem to make more sense.

Yesterday, I started reading ‘Dreamsnake’ by Vonda N. McIntyre. My reading this book presents all sorts of personal firsts.

Firstly, despite her success and science fiction literary awards, this will be the first time I have ever read a book by McIntyre. I like the idea of coming to an author for the first time, with the hope that it won’t simply be a one night stand. Reading my first Kathy Reich book was much the same – and I have gone on to read more. I also read more Dan Brown after finishing ‘The Da Vinci Code’, almost entirely because the sheer readability of the book took me completely by surprise.

Secondly, in buying this book, this is my first 1p purchase from Amazon Marketplace. I have associates who wouldn’t consider spending more on a book these days, despite the fact – in truth – the standard postage associated with the purchase means you never pay less than £2.76… Nevertheless, I found the process painless and relatively cheap.

Finally, this will be the first time I have ever read a book because a calendar told me to. Yes, you read that right. The excellent Futurama Calendar not only serves up some superb spoof images of movies with a Futurama twist (like January’s ‘Clone Alone’, with Cubert Farnsworth filling the Macaulay Culkin role in the classic poster image with the hapless criminals in the background and Cubert wide mouthed in shock) and an incredible breadth of information (it includes International Talk Like A Pirate Day on September 19th – how complete is that?!), it also tells you what to read. Every few weeks, the little calendar square says ‘Read so-and-so book’, starting with ‘Dreamsnake’ on 9th January. I’m all for new experiences in reading, so I intend to do my level best keeping up with the recommendations and expanding my horizons.

I wonder how they make commission out of it?