Back to blogging - but slowly.

My recovery after breaking my femur way back in January is taking much longer than I had realised. The doctors said that I will not be back to 'normal'  - whatever that is - until July. I have been sleeping for England, depressed by the news of war, nuclear tests and yet another election - Why? Oh and at the same time I had massive internet problems caused, we eventually found out, by  faulty electrics on my ancient PC interfering with the internet signal. No, I don;t understand why either. Finally, I got a new PC with a massive screen and Windows 10 but no Microsoft Word (don't ask). No wonder things haven't been going so smoothly in my life since January.

So this is where I am at the moment but trying to pull myself back to where I want to be. Not writing, not going anywhere, not thinking clearly and sleeping a lot. Boring eh? Hence no blog posts.

I have had to leave my own writing on the back burner for the time being because I haven't got sufficient energy even now to keep me functioning intelligently for more than an hour or so during the day. I am now beginning to get back into reading but not tackling anything too arduous or literary, which is not bad at all - in case you think I'm being snobbish. Far from it. I am so pleased that finally I am once again reading voraciously really good crime thrillers - ones that are not too gruesome or too cosy.  Perfect for that are the Shetland novels of Ann Cleeves. I have read all her 'Vera' novels and loved them all. They are much better than the TV series by the way. Brenda Blethyn is a great actor but even in padding to make her fatter a mackintosh and hat plonked on her head, she is far too attractive for the Vera of the books.  Anyway, that's TV for you. I love the Northumberland setting; The county is very underrated. Having got immersed in that series, I have taken my time to turn to her Shetland series both on TV and in the novels. Bad mistake, now being rectified by a major catch-up exercise.

In the past, The Shetland Isles had felt too remote for me to get a feel for them. Funnily enough, having read Amy Liptrot's fabulous memoir: Outreach which is set in The Orkneys and having been blown away by their atmosphere, the wildlife, on land, see and sky as well as its people. I changed my mind. Before you shout that book is about the The Orkney Isles and not the Shetlands - big difference, you daft English woman, I felt sufficiently adventurous enough to tackle fiction set further north.

In the meantime, before my accident, I read two historical novels that, although written in English,  masterfully combines Scandinavian Noir and historical fiction in Wolf Winter and In The Month of the Midnight Sun, both by Cecilia Ekback. I thoroughly recommend them as historical crime novels The setting here is Arctic Sweden, lands of the Lapps as well as Swedes,
I realised, after having read them with great pleasure and an increased understanding of northern climes, that I could easily cope with The Shetland Isles. What took me so long? I am now hooked and have plunged into a Shetland feast.

Coming back to England, when it comes to devouring crime fiction, the same series prejudice happened recently with the novels by Elly Griffiths. For some time I have become engrossed with her crime series featuring the archaeologist Ruth Galloway and her detective lover and her motley selection of people including druids, set on the atmospheric salt marshes of north Norfolk. Realising that I was reading the books more quickly than she could write them (of course) I looked around for more of her crime fiction and found her novels set in the 50s and 60s in Brighton and are set around the fading world of variety. Featuring DI Stevens and his great friend known as 'Mephisto' a stage magician, these are also enjoyable and highly ingenious with murder at their heart. In both series, Elly Griffiths creates a set of varied and fascinating well-rounded characters. Long may she continue writing both series.

The Stevens and Mephisto Series

One of the Ruth Galloway series.

Funnily enough, reading crime fiction has helped restore my sanity and peace of mind. Why murder and mayhem helps heal the mind and body I have no idea. But it is working for me.  Why knock it?