Monkeyshines

Category: Idle Thoughts

  • Past Tense Book Review – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

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    James
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    Again I have failed to write a present tense book review, although this time it’s more because I didn’t really have anything to say until I got to the end (although my slothfulness played a part too). If you’re not already aware of this book, then you probably won’t be interested in it. If you…

  • Past Tense Book Review – Nemesis

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    James
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    This was going to be one of my incredibly popular (i.e. read by Mrs. Monkeyshines and/or Binky) present tense book reviews, but a) I’ve been too busy doing nothing over Christmas to faff around on my website, and 2) it’s quite short, and also superb, so I rattled through it in no time. It’s by…

  • Present Tense Book Review – Lady Audley’s Secret: Part 4

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    James
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    (Part Three of this Present Tense Book Review.) Ok, so there is a bit of a twist at the end, and I didn’t see it coming; but still, as I whinged about in the last instalment, the end of this book sags badly. If the last 120 pages were condensed into 20 pages, it’d be…

  • Chestnut Hash

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    James
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    Not exactly sure if this qualifies as a ‘hash’, but it’s close enough. Very nice with wholegrain rice, since the nuttiness complements the chestnuts. Serves two. Ingredients (Core) 15 (sweet) chestnuts 2 small(ish) carrots, grated ½ can green lentils A small handful of sprouts, sliced ½ a normal-sized onion, diced A vegetable stock cube Ingredients…

  • Present Tense Book Review – Lady Audley’s Secret: Part 3

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    James
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    (Part Two of this Present Tense Book Review.) Lumme, the third quarter of this ‘ere book ain’t ‘alf draggin’ guvnor, and no mistake. It’s even caused me to lapse into the argot of my youth for no good reason. The book was originally published serially in magazines, and it feels like the author is stringing…

  • Present Tense Book Review – Lady Audley’s Secret: Part 2

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    James
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    (Part One of this Present Tense Book Review.) Robert Audley is still assiduously trying to uncover the eponymous secret, and entertaining me while he does so. He’s a bit of an odd character, and he reminds me of myself, sometimes. He likes his idle pleasures, is phlegmatic (in a good sense), and looks after any…

  • Cats I Have Known – Fluff

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    James
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    Fluff turned up on our doorstep, with the unerring instinct that some stray cats have of finding a soft touch for a saucer of milk and a stroke. At the time we still had Heidi, so we had some food to offer this rather scruffy tabby and white cat, who had at some point lost…

  • Present Tense Book Review – Akira

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    James
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    I was a big fan of the majestic film of the same name, directed by the author of the books (Katsuhiro Otomo), when I was a pimply youth. And if I’d ever been bored (boring?) enough to write a list of “X things to do before I’m Y”, reading the original comic books would certainly…

  • Present Tense Book Review – Lady Audley’s Secret

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    James
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    This week I’ve been continuing my classic crime kick with Lady Audley’s Secret, by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. Written in 1862, it’s getting on for 150 years old. Which is one of those incredible things that seem perfectly reasonable on the face of it, but really, it’s sort of crazy that I’m sat here in my…

  • A Mundane Mystery

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    James
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    Here’s a strange thing. Myself and Mrs. Monkeyshines returned on Sunday from a night away, and found a medium-sized cardboard box balanced on the small wall at the front of our house. It was spitting with rain, and the box was already a bit damp, so I brought it inside. It was not filled with…