It’s something I don’t normally do but I’m currently in the middle of two books. And it wouldn’t be happening at all if one of them wasn’t a non-fiction. Both are odd enough though that I thought I’d talk about how I got myself into this situation.
Mystery Mile by Margery Allingham
One of my holiday binges was to re-watch the Campion “mystery” series on Amazon. It’s not something I watch often but I do occasionally enjoy the quirkiness of it. This time I got curious about its origin and discovered it was based on a series of mystery books by Margery Allingham, a contemporary of Agatha Christie. I also discovered that the first book wasn’t even about Albert Campion and got even more curious. Apparently he was just a side character that the publisher and readers fell in love with. And the rest was history. So much so that the original detective was forgotten and it became known as the first Campion book. So I got and read the first, The Crime at Black Dudley, and have to say it’s a very interesting story. For one thing, it’s very different in terms of being a mystery. It starts off kind of like a country house party mystery but then turns into something more like an adventure thriller romp. I really enjoyed it but don’t want to talk about it in-depth until I finish the next one that actually features Campion as the main character. I’m reading it, Mystery Mile, right now and so far I’m really liking it too. More on both later, however.
The Narnia Code by Michael Ward
A week or so ago, someone sent me a video about this author and his discovery of a secret code in The Chronicles of Narnia books. After watching it, I was so intrigued that I had to investigate further. He writes about his discovery in a book called Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis that’s based on his doctoral thesis. It’s definitely more targeted to academics. His ideas have become so popular, however, that a documentary was done in Britain about it called The Narnia Code. Because of the success of that he also wrote another book on the topic called The Narnia Code: C. S. Lewis and the Secret of the Seven Heavens, you know, for the rest of us. So I’m reading it, too, right now and it’s fascinating. Right now, I’m not sure if I will do a post on it after I finish it but we’ll see. Maybe.
So that’s what’s in my reading basket right now. What’s in yours?