The British Stuff of My Week #BriFri

Welcome to British Isles Friday! British Isles Friday is a weekly event for sharing all things British and Irish — reviews, photos, opinions, trip reports, guides, links, resources, personal stories, interviews, and research posts. Join us each Friday to link your British and Irish themed content and to see what others have to share. The link list is at the bottom of this post. Pour a cup of tea or lift a pint and join our link party!

Last week, I reviewed Suffragette and reminisced about my grandmothers. Sim brought us the cool architecture of the stations of the London Underground. Tina reviewed book #16 in Peter Robinson’s DCI Banks series, Piece of My Heart. Heather devoted a top ten list to her favorite historical fiction, including several books set in the British Isles. Becky reviewed two books: Agatha (a “graphic novel” biography of Agatha Christie) and The Borrowers. Karen is working her way through the Man Booker Prize’s long list and reviewed The Many by Wyl Menmuir.

I’m not really ready to write about any of the things that I could write about, so I thought I’d give a run-down of all the British things I thought about writing that I encountered recently.

Scott & Bailey. I caught up on this series. Season 4 is on Hulu. Season 5 ran this spring on ITV, so we Americans may get to see that one soon.

Pardonable Lies (Maisie Dobbs) and Into the Woods by Tana French. Two books that I’ve read recently and want to review. But I’m on the virtual hold list for the e-books of the next in each series. So, I’m waiting to review several series books at one time. It’s taking a very long time to get my turn. I think I’ll put further series books on hold so that I might get them more quickly .

The Last Goodnight by Howard Blum. While waiting for those books, I started reading this one. I’ve been reading a lot of lightweight fiction recently and I actually didn’t expect to get into this book, a biography of a World War II spy, an American woman married to a British diplomat. August and September are the peak months of my allergy season and I need very diverting literature to cope. It turns out that this biography is a page-turner!

Foyle’s War. I’ve seen almost all of this series, but I realized recently that I’ve yet to watch the last season. My husband took an interest, so I’m watching it over again from the beginning with him.

Home Front. I’ve mentioned that I love listening to the longest running radio drama in history, The Archers. There’s another radio drama on BBC Radio 4 that I enjoy — Home Front, set in Great Britain during World War I. Each day’s episode happened 100 years ago today. It’s been a fascinating way to learn about the Great War. I almost cried last week when a family received two telegrams in one day, losing both of their sons in the same battle. This will only get more interesting for an American audience in the next year — the 100th anniversary of the US entry into WWI is in April, 2017. Home Front has “seasons” of several weeks with long breaks in between. All previous episodes are available on the web site.

What has caught your attention this week from the British Isles?

Comments

The British Stuff of My Week #BriFri — 7 Comments

Tina on September 23, 2016 at 5:38 am said:

I certainly look forward to British Isles Friday each week. Even if I can’t participate I like seeing what you post about and you give me ideas about new books and series. Glad you mentioned Last Goodnight as its been on my to-read list but I pass it by and grab another book.

I hope you enjoy the Tana French books, she is one of my favorites!

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Haralee on September 23, 2016 at 10:56 am said:

I watched season one of Death in Paradise and it is a cozy. Like a Miss Marple or Murder She Wrote. I found Happy Valley too gritty for me so only watched a few episodes.

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- Joy Weese Moll on September 23, 2016 at 11:11 am said:
  
  Me, too. I had fun with Death in Paradise (http://www.joyweesemoll.com/2015/09/25/death-in-paradise-tv-brifri/) but couldn’t get into Happy Valley. I’m trying Silk, right now, it’s a lawyer show and so that’s been kind of interesting.
  
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Mike@bitaboutbritain on September 23, 2016 at 1:08 pm said:

I thought I’d direct folk to a bit about Constable Country this week – a kind of ‘ten and now’. I enjoy Scott and Bailey and Foyle’s War when I get round to it and feel I should have been following Home Front – it sounds amazing from what friends have told me. I’m VERY impressed that you have! This week we had a screening in our village of the film, ‘the Battle of the Somme’, made at the front during the lead up to and early stages of the battle 100 years ago. It caused a sensation when shown in cinemas at the time, because most of the public at the time hadn’t much idea of what it was like over there. On the very first day of the attack, 1st July, the British Army suffered more than 57,000 casualties, of which just under 20,000 were killed. The film was a little more sanitised than the reality, of course…but a bit of history in its own right.

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Mike@bitaboutbritain on September 23, 2016 at 1:09 pm said:

I meant to say, ‘then and now’. Sigh…

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Jean @ Howling Frog on September 23, 2016 at 2:41 pm said:

I read Gentian Hill by Elizabeth Goudge, which is set near Torquay during the Napoleonic Wars. It’s a lovely book, and for one thing really brings home how and why the English so adored Nelson.
http://howlingfrog.blogspot.com/2016/09/gentian-hill.html

I also read Strongholds, whose heroine loves the countryside. Finishes up in a fictional version of the author’s own home, an ancient little manor house.
http://howlingfrog.blogspot.com/2016/09/strongholds.html

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SimCarter on September 24, 2016 at 10:36 am said:

I’ve tried but for some reason I just can’t get into Maisie Dobbs. I don’t know why. I absolutely adore Foyle’s War, just such lovely, rich characters. I don’t know that I’ve seen the series in order from start to finish so I might try that — especially as Doc Martin seems stuck in eternal reruns.

I’d hoped to be in England for real this year but life got in the way and as you know, I’m still trailing around Britain in my head!

As always, thanks for hosting such a fun meme!

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