I feel like I have put in well over a week already.

Mr. Waffle and I went to see a worthy French film last night. I am not sure that this was an appropriate mid-week outing; it’s the kind of thing you need to be in the whole of your health to sit through. The hero was called Malony. This is an Irish surname which went to America and became an American first name (because Americans seem to like that) and now because of the pervasive influence of American culture, it was picked by the film as the perfect name for the juvenile delinquent character. Which is a bit weird, if you’re Irish.

That’s all I’ve got for today, I fear.

“A God in Ruins” by Kate Atkinson

I think Kate Atkinson is a wonderful writer. This new book is superb. The ending is really clever and stays with you. Slightly too much information about flying planes in the war for me, but that is a minor quibble.

“Faithful Place” by Tana French

Another Tana French novel. She writes detective stories which are not normally my cup of tea but I love the way she writes and I find the plots really clever also. This one is about a detective from the wrong side of the tracks whose past comes back to haunt him.

“Broken Harbour” by Tana French

Another beautifully written, clever book by Tana French. It’s a detective story with all the detective elements in place but also an extended meditation on the boom and the bust and the people who were left high and dry when the Irish economy collapsed.

“Mrs Bradshaw’s Handbook: Travelling Upon the Ankh-Morpork & Sto Plains Hygienic Railway (Discworld)” by Terry Pratchett (2014)

Sorry, but this was awful. It wasn’t even funny. I think Terry Pratchett can only have been marginally involved at best.

“The Brandons” by Angela Thirkell

More super conservative 1930s social comedy from the mistress of the genre. I suppose you either like this stuff or you don’t. I do.

“Man at the Helm” by Nina Stibbe

This was quite good. The author’s first book about being a nanny in a publisher’s house in London. That was factual, but this is sold as fiction. I have a feeling, however, that it is strongly based on fact in which case I can only gasp at the horror and misery of her childhood and the rather stoic good nature which she and her siblings demonstrated in the face of adversity.

“Sisterhood” by Curtis Sittenfeld

This is very good. Not a lot of plot but the writing and characters are brilliant enough to get you over that. And even though it features psychic twins it is not at all clichéd. Truly.

“Death of a Policeman” by MC Beaton

I still read MC Beaton even though a part of me really disapproves of her. This Hamish Macbeth novel is, doubtless, an insult to Scottish people everywhere.

“The Moscow Option” by Jeremy Duns

This kind of thing is not really for me. If you like spy novels with double agents, deeply improbable plots and a certain amount of confusion, this is for you.

“Don’t Know Much About Catholic History” by Diane Moczar

A friend lent me this. The author is very keen on the 13th century and anyone who says it was anything other than amazing is anathema. She has strong, conservative Catholic views. Not for me though unintentionally entertaining in places.

“The Bad Catholic’s Guide to the Cathecism” by John Zmirak

Lent to me by the same friend. Profoundly annoying, rendered the more so by the fact that there were some really interesting ideas in there which I could have done with having explained without heavy handed humour.

“Barbe Bleu” by Amélie Nothomb

Meh, not bad. A clever enough retelling of the traditional Blue Beard story. I didn’t love it but it was fine.