Another Bear's Opinion -- Book Review

Autobiography by Morrissey
 
Morrissey is a bit of a polarising influence in my house. One of my housemates is a big fan. My other housemate regards Morrissey records as she would sharp objects – best hidden somewhere safe when the former housemate is having a down phase. It was enough to make me want to find out more about him.

Autobiography is written almost stream-of-consciousness style and I suspect it may even be the first draft. There are no chapter divisions and single paragraphs can sprawl over more than two pages. Despite this, it’s an easy, engaging and yes, entertaining read.

There are occasional wild tangents but he always returns to the main point before you’ve had enough time to forget what it was. It’s part pub conversation with cheeky asides, part film with the occasional flashback.

He does not dwell disproportionately on any perceived glory days. The Smiths are over by the half way point of the book, which is entirely fair enough since they were over by the half way point of Morrissey’s life thus far.

There are inconsistencies of course. Few would argue that Morrissey is always the most reliable witness. There were two errors that stood out to me. One was his recollection that Rough Trade Records boss Geoff Travis had approached George Martin to produce The Queen Is Dead, but George Martin declined the offer on the grounds that he only wanted to be known for producing The Beatles. That may well have been what Geoff Travis told Morrissey but a moment’s research into George Martin’s career would prove such an excuse untrue.
 
The other is where he states that EMI Australia refused to release an album called Viva Hate and instead changed the title to Education In Reverse. In fact, it was just a mistake. Morrissey had a habit of scratching cryptic messages into the run-out grooves of his records, and that was the message in his first solo album. The factory mistook this for the title. Within weeks, the misprinted copies were withdrawn and Viva Hate was duly available in Australia as intended. It’s not as dramatic a story but it’s closer to the truth.

In the end, it doesn’t matter. This is Morrissey unfiltered. It’s his truth as he chooses to tell it. Others may tell theirs one day. Or maybe not.

Although he often portrays himself as the victim of numerous conspiracies, he mostly avoids self-justification. The one major exception to this is the section on The Smiths Trial of 1996 where former Smiths drummer Mike Joyce sued Morrissey and Marr for unpaid earnings. He presents a comprehensive rebuttal of the judge’s summing up and makes a compelling case for incompetence on the part of the judge. Again though, this is Morrissey’s side of the story and other may recall things differently.

Although his loathing of Mike Joyce is deliberately palpable, this is only expressed during the trial. During the section on The Smiths, Morrissey has nothing but praise for his former bandmate’s musicianship which suggests an objectivity that few might otherwise give the author credit for. In fact, most people who pass through his life and career are treated the same way, written of affectionately while they are working with him and disparagingly afterwards. By contrast, his musical director of 20 year, Boz Boorer is hardly mentioned and songwriting partner for the Kill Uncle album Mark E Nevin is not mentioned at all. I suspect both might be relieved by this.

Having stated early in the book that the music was always what mattered most, above all else, he ends up writing far more about his business arrangements than the creative process and we learn more about where each successive single debuted on the charts than how the song was written and recorded.

Yes, it’s a book full of foibles but anyone with even a vague awareness of Morrissey should expect that. It is a pop autobiography as unique as the artist himself and as such, it’s well worth a read even if you’re not a massive fan.

One Bear’s Opinion: Five big mugs of sweet black tea.

Sláinte,
Spencer

One Bear's Opinion -- Hogan's Heroes Reviewed, Part 1

I was introduced to Hogan's Heroes pretty late in the game, when it aired on Nick at Nite, long after it was on network tv for its original run.  But from the first episode, I was hooked!  Hogan's Heroes has become my go-to fluff tv for when I need something silly, either to forget or escape from the world, or just to have some noise on in the background.  It's silly, and in the way of most 60's sitcoms, good, clean fun.  It's just what the doctor ordered when I need a dose of mindless escapism.  Though recent information shows, it might not be as unbelievable or as ridiculous as the producers may have wanted viewers to think.  New information indicates that there were real "Hogans" in POW camps in Europe in World War II.  That is too cool for words.  Truly. 

Anyway, I have the complete series on DVD and as I watch it through again, I'm going to review the episodes.

Season 1, Episode 1 (The Informer)
This is the only Black & White episode of Hogan's Heroes and served as the pilot.  Most of the regular cast is in attendance, and the basic groundwork for the series is laid.  Olsen, the "outside" man is never seen again, nor is the Russian prisoner, but the basic cast is all present and accounted for.

As a pilot, it works very well, especially for a series that never really changes.  It lays the general idea for the forthcoming episodes and gives some of the "behind the scenes" information on the workings of Stalag 13's "traveler's aide" that are missing from following episodes.  But for the fact that this episode is in Black & White, it could have been played in any order through out the six years of the series.  As with all the other episodes, save the couple that are two-parts, it can be played in any order and there is no difference.  Many series have an overarching story arc that carries from one episode to the next.  Hogan's Heroes is not one of those series.  The characters do not significantly age, there are no real cast changes, and as much as I would have loved to see the Stalag 13 Prisoners escape or the War end, there is nothing that really differentiates a Season 1 episode from a Season 6 episode.  Each season is just a collection of self-contained half-hour episodes.  Heck, it almost never changes seasons!

The Pilot is one of my favorite episodes, but only because it shows the underground operation a bit better than the others.  Truly, as far as Hogan's Heroes goes, if you have seen one episode, you have seen them all.  There is no need to start with the Pilot and work your way through.  It is possible to pick it up at any point in the series.

Season 1, Episode 2 (Hold That Tiger) 
This episode, and the all the following ones are in color and the regular cast is present and set.  This episode introduces a recurring French underground agent, Tiger, whose name I am not entirely sure is not a play on the plot to steal a German Tiger Tank.  In truth, I am not sure that Tiger was not intended to be a one-time character, used only for this episode.

The episode does lay out how well Hogan and his men have the German guards under their control.  The most interesting part of this episode is that Colonel Klink suspects Hogan of something, while in others he is sure there is no way Hogan can have any part in the sabotage.  Klink often waffles back and forth on believing Hogan and his men capable of the sabotage and suspecting they had a hand in it.  Perhaps it's much like Sergeant Schultz, if he admits he knows, he must do something about that knowledge, and doing something with that knowledge will only serve to ensure he is sent for a nice long trip to the Russian Front.

Going into each episode, it is known from the beginning that Hogan's men will triumph over the Germans, so there is no real worry about Hogan's men., but it's still fun to watch how the sabotage is carried out and which of the Germans looks the most foolish. Klink is sometimes the fool, but Shultz almost never is.  I think Hogan and his men need Schultz on their side too much to make too big a fool of him.  This is one of the episodes where Klink ends up looking foolish and knows it, but he is also sure Hogan had a hand in it.

More to come as I work my way through the series.  If you haven't checked out Hogan's Heroes yet, do so when you can.  It's well worth the 22 minutes for an episode on DVD, or the half hour on a syndicated episode on live tv.  And as a bonus, you'll get a lot of references in other shows.  I have lost count how many references there are to Hogan's Heroes in more contemporary productions.  It's definitely one of those "Ohh, so that's where that came from!" shows.

Happy Watching Everyone, 
Oliver

One Bear's Opinion -- Book Review

A Disappearance in Drury Lane by Ashley Gardner
 
I was anxiously awaiting the release of this book.  It’s the eighth in the Captain Gabriel Lacy seres, and it’s been a long time between visits with such good friends.  I was so excited to be able to get this as an e-book for the Kindle my housemate and I share the day it was released for sale.  And I dived right in.  I made sure the Kindle was charged up before I downloaded it, and once it was on, I read straight through to the end.

Even with nearly two years between visits, I fell right back in with Captain Lacey and his friends.  It was a fun visit, and while I raced through the book, it never felt rushed.

This episode was a mystery surrounding a missing actress.  The ins and outs of backstage at the Drury Lane theater were interesting, and there were definitely some red herrings in the mix to keep me guessing as to “whodunit.”  The new wrinkle of the Bow Street Runner out for Mr. Denis was a frustrating plot point, and I hope he is dealt with swiftly in the next episode.  I do not like this new Runner; but maybe that’s the point of his character.

It’s hard for me to say much more without spoiling the mystery, so I will say that A Disappearance in Drury Lane was a most enjoyable and entertaining way to spend a Saturday.  I really can’t wait for the next installment.  I hope I do not have to wait another two years.

One Bear’s Opinion:  Four Cups of Tea with warm scones and clotted cream
 
Happy Reading Everyone,
Oliver

One Bear's Opinion -- Book Review

Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar … Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes by Thomas Cathcart & Daniel Klein
 
My housemate found this book browsing in an independent bookstore when we were living in New Orleans.  She explained the book looked interesting, and anything that uses jokes to explain a subject can’t be all bad, right?  And the book does look interesting.  Our copy has an international safety orange with peek-a-boo windows isolating Plato and a platypus in a larger illustration of famous jokes in a bar.  It is a nice book to look at.
 
And my housemate was right, it was not all bad.  But it was more of a slog than I would have liked, and not quite as funny or as easy to understand as the blurb made it sound.

I know she picked this book, not only for the cover and title, but also to try and fill a void in her, and by extension, our, education.  When my housemate was in college, she had to pick two introductory social science classes to take in order to fulfill the requirements for her Bachelor of Science degree.  The choices were:  Comparative Religions, Economics, Geography, Philosophy, Psychology, or Sociology.  As a business major, Economics was a core major requirement and she could not use that toward the social science requirement, and the semester she wanted to get her social science requirement done Comparative Religions  was not offered.  That left her with Geography, Philosophy, Psychology, and Sociology as options.  Psychology was offered at a time that conflicted with a class she had to take for her business major, so she had to choose two classes from Geography, Philosophy, and Sociology.  Geography was an easy choice, and in the end, she opted to take Sociology because rumor was it was the easiest of the social science classes.  Based on the studying she did for it, I’m not sure the rumor was true, but after reading this book, I am sure she made the right decision as far as her classes.

The book is subtitled “Understanding Philosophy though Jokes.”  I’m sure that was the goal of the authors, but it fell a bit short as far as explaining the subject for me.  It seemed as though the authors started out trying to explain a principle or thought in Philosophy and then use a joke or jokes as an example of the idea, but they didn’t really succeed as far as I could tell.  It would have been better if, they introduced the idea, used the joke as an example and then re-visited the idea through the joke.  Yes, it would mean that they might have to waste a good deal of time and effort to explain the joke, but in so doing they would have also better explained the point they were trying to make.

Overall, I came away not knowing much more about Philosophy than I knew when I started, but I know quite a few more jokes.  Then again, the authors did explain that much of Philosophy is discussing ideas rather than ever coming to any conclusions about those ideas, so maybe I understand it better than I think.

Either way, this is not a book that I need to read again.  And as much as I enjoyed the authors’ chatty style, I do not really have to seek out anything else they have done.

Ohh, and the title joke about Plato and a platypus … no, you’ll just have to read the book yourself to find out.

One Bear’s Opinion:  Two cups of tea left to go room temperature while contemplating the sound of one hand clapping

Happy Reading Everyone,
Oliver

One Bear's Opinion -- Book Review

Murder in Montparnasse by Kerry Greenwood

This is the twelfth book in Ms. Greenwood’s Phryne Fisher series.  I have to say, I probably would not have picked up the series had one of my housemates not given the first book to the other.  But having found them, I want to share them with everyone I know who would enjoy them -- which is not to say I want to share them with everyone I know.  I know a few people who would not enjoy this series.  My housemate feels the same way, and in fact, we share the very copies of the books we read with her father.  We buy them in Australia, where they are more readily available, read them (it’s a family joke that we must be careful not to read the words off), and then forward them on to her father for his enjoyment.  This book is one of four that we need to finish before an upcoming trip with her father.  If we finish them all before the trip ends, we can leave the books with him rather than having to mail them to him -- a win/win for everyone.

But back to Murder in Montparnasse.  This was the best of the Phryne adventures to date in my opinion.  The mystery itself was easy to figure out, and I had the murderer pegged as soon as he was introduced as a character.  The subplot took a bit more figuring out, especially with some the author’s descriptions at the ends of some of the chapters and a few red herrings.  It was not the mystery plots that made this the best adventure.  It was the back-story and flashbacks to Phryne’s life in post-War Paris.  I usually have a low tolerance for name dropping, and the flashback remembrances were full of name dropping, but in this case it was not as overt and in-you-face as that kind of thing can be.

Americans (and their bears) are taught very little about World War I if only because the US education system has deemed, by and large, things in which the US was not involved are not worthy of discussion.  So any real discussion of World War I had to be done outside of schooling and on one’s own.  My housemate’s father was interested in World War I, and in particular the Gallipoli Campaign, so we probably came through knowing more than the average person by dint of being exposed to it.  But still, our education is sorely lacking for that period in history.

I am not saying that fictional mystery novels are the best places to go for historical information, but they are not bad for setting the scene and encouraging more in-depth research and investigation.  One could do worse than Phryne Fisher for historical context.  But this adventure was not only about the historical context, but a good deal about the character of Phryne herself.  We are all products of our times, our upbringings, and our adventures.  This book went a good way to explaining why Phryne is who she is.  And that was the best part.

Add to that an interesting, but possibly throw-away, discussion about the young no longer heeding the advice of the old because the old “advised them to die,” and it was a book that will have an impact on my long after we pass it on to my housemate’s father.

I always recommend reading series books in order, but this is not one that needs to be read in sequence.  It would help to already know the characters, but because so much of the book takes place before the series begins anyway, it is not sensitive to the over-arching plot line.  Definitely check out Phryne Fisher mysteries if you can find them.  But do not worry if you cannot find other and have to read this one first, or out of order, just read it.

One Bear’s Opinion:  Five cups strong Parisian coffee and a plate of brownies (preferably not from Alice B. Toklas’ infamous recipe)

Happy Reading Everyone,
Oliver

A Bear in the City

Saturday was National Bookshop Day in Australia.  And as I have been very good over the past few months, my housemates told me I could join them in their book-shopping adventures.  It’s only fair, as I read the books too.

The day started out with a drive up to Melbourne.  The drive itself was fairly uneventful, but we did stop at a drive-through carwash on the way.  Once my housemate explained to me that it was okay because no water could get in the car, I rather enjoyed the experience.  It was interesting, particularly when the surface protectant was sprayed -- it was blue and red foam that made interesting drops and rivulets on the windows.

After the carwash, it was to the parking garage and then to the first stop of the day.  My housemate had planned three bookshop stops, at independent booksellers in Melbourne’s CBD.  The first was at the aptly named Hill of Content Bookshop.  The shop is down the hill from Melbourne's Parliament House.  It’s a smallish bookstore but the second level makes it feel bigger than it is.  We looked at several books while browsing, and bought two mysteries:  The Janissary Tree and A Test of Wills.  Both looked interesting, though I think my housemate has been dithering about The Janissary Tree for some time; she was quick to grab it as a definite purchase.  Before heading downstairs, we wandered through the Travel section, but found nothing we didn't already know.  Downstairs in the Fiction section, we looked at the remaining two books in Frank Moorhouse’s Edith Trilogy, but decided against them as we slogged through the initial book, Grand Days.  Checking out was nice and easy, and we got a free bookmark.  I always like when you get bookmarks in the books you purchase -- it saves having to locate one when you start the book, and is a nice reminder of where you got the book.

Leaving Hill of Content Bookshop, we walked about a block up the hill to The Paperback Bookshop.  To say The Paperback Bookshop is tiny does a disservice to the word tiny.  But the shop uses space fairly well and there was a large selection.  We were on the lookout for a book (Evan’s Gallipoli) my housemate had seen on a previous visit.  She meant to get it for her father.  She was very happy to see it was still there and after a stop in the Fiction and Crime Fiction sections, was happy to leave with just that book.  On the way out, we had to walk through the Biography/History section and just happened to see The Three Emperors.  Now I know my housemate’s favorite historical period is Turn-of-the-Century Russia leading to the abdication and subsequent assassination of Tsar Nicholas II, and I knew she was not aware this book was available, so I made sure to alert her to the book.  She bought it without more than a second thought.

Two bookshops done, and another one to go, we made a slight detour.  My housemate’s birthdays are coming up -- they are eleven days apart -- and one of my housemates had a great idea for the other’s present.  So we took a detour to a large department store to pick up the gift.  As it turned out, the gift was on sale, so it was fortuitous that we were there that day.  I hope he likes the gift. 

The gift was not really heavy, but it was in a large box, so it was a bit bulky and we were getting quite warm in out winter clothes and coats.  Even though we had to walk past the third bookstore to get to the car, we decided to do that and then come back to the bookstore unencumbered rather than drag the bulky purchase around the store.  While at the car dropping off the gift, we also dropped off our coats and the books we had gotten at the first two stores and an unneeded umbrella that I didn’t really want to admit was uncomfortable to sit on.  Freed of the unnecessaries, we headed back down the hill  to the third bookstore of the day, Reader’s Feast.

One of my housemates says that Reader’s Feast is the kind of bookstore that makes you want to stay and browse and the kind that makes you want to read books.  I can see his point, but Reader’s Feast is more the kind of bookstore that makes books works of art worthy of being displayed on shelves.  It is in a building that spans a block, so it’s long and narrow, but still airy.  As usual in any bookstore, our first stop was the Mystery/Crime Fiction section and the browse there was rewarded with two more books my housemate was looking for to share with her Dad.  We picked up the next two next-in-series in Kerry Greenwood’s Phryne Fisher series:  Queen of the Flowers and Death by Water.  Then we wandered over to a huge display of Penguin Books.  In the US, Penguin books are not sold with the generic orange & white color-blocked covers.  Penguin Classics had the same black borders and work-of-art-covers as they do here in Australia, but the orange & white books were not common.  Maybe Americans really do judge books by their covers.  The orange & white books feel a bit generic and library-ish to me, but it if means we can have more books, I’m willing to forego interesting covers.  And there is a new line of Penguin Crime Fiction in green & white covers.  We investigated The Murders in the Rue Morgue, but decided against Poe based on the thriller aspect of his writing.  Maybe next time we’ll give Poe a go.  But this time we decided on Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone and Edgar Wallace’s The Clue of the New Pin.  That made four books already and we were hardly past the frost door of the shop.  It was time to move on to Fiction for some browsing.  In Fiction, we debated A Confederacy of Dunces; being native New Orleanians, both my housemate and I feel we should read the classic, but the covers were not right and we decided it would feel wrong reading that book in anything but the cover we know.  Moving on from Fiction, we headed to Cooking.  My housemate is in the market for new cookbooks.  And she was spoilt for choice at Reader’s Feast.  There were several vegetarian cookbooks that looked promising.  And a couple of bread making cookbooks looked interesting.  We flicked through an Australian Better Homes & Gardens cookbook, but when we saw that most of the recipes were ones we already had in our existing BH&G cookbook library, we discounted that as an option.  Looking on the bottom shelf, we found a smallish book called Light Bites.  It was exactly what we were looking for, some small plates, some main dishes, some soups, some side dishes, and some desserts.  My housemate was sold.  And with that book, her hands were full so it was time to check out.  At the checkout, we entered the National Bookshop Day store raffle (but were not winners).  On the way out, we stopped in the travel section to see if there was a new, interesting and helpful guide for our upcoming cruise of Eastern Canada/New England, but there was now so we headed to a craft store for a very important purchase.

The last item on our shopping list for the day was to check out ribbons for my fellow bear, Spencer.  Spencer’s bow is in need of replacement and my housemate thought that he would like it better if I helped pick out the new ribbon.  We briefly considered green & yellow “Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi” ribbon, but I knew that was just for the shock value and not for real.  After about ten minutes’ consideration we decided on a nice cream-colored organza ribbon, very much like the ribbon in Spencer’s current bow.  We thought it was a by-the-yard ribbon, but it turned out to be a by-the-spool ribbon, so we were happy.  There is now plenty of ribbon for all Spencer’s bear-bow needs.

That last purchased ticked off out list, my housemate decided she was a bit hungry and very much thirsty.  The craft store was in a mall with a food court so we headed down there to find what was on offer.  We found a fast-food Mexican-ish place and got an order of seasoned french fries and a bottle of water.  I had some of the seasoned fries, but none of the water while we flipped through the new cookbook investigating the recipes.  Most sounded good though I have my doubts about Iceberg Lettuce Soup and Beet Ravioli with Dill Cream Sauce.  While we were eating, we got some texts from our housemate and he said he was finished at the record store -- he had left us to our own devices at Hill of Content Bookshop to head to a Melbourne suburb where a large record store was closing down.  It was a win/win for everyone.  His texts said he was on the way back into town and would meet us when he found us.

We finished up our snack and headed back to the car to drop off the books, and me.  My housemates had decided to use this trip to try out a Kansas City Barbeque place but I wanted no part of that.  We met our housemate about a block from the car and walked back together.  At the car, we quickly checked out each others' purchases and they left me to look after things in the car while they went to dinner.  I had a lovely time flicking through all the books -- there are some new pictures of Tsar Nicholas II and King George V in The Three Emperors that I know my housemate has not seen.  She will be happy about those.

My housemates returned from dinner, a bit overfull from the huge servings at the barbeque joint (I understand this is common at barbeque joints) and were ready to head home.  After getting everything settled we were off.

The drive home was uneventful and included a stop for frozen cokes.  Don’t tell them, but I took a couple of sips of the frozen cokes in the dark.  They were very good.  There was a traditional Coke one and a Strawberry-Kiwi one.  I think I liked the Coke one a bit better, but only because it was brown and the drips would not show as much on my fur as the red of the Strawberry-Kiwi.

We got home before 9:30, but I was really too tired to investigate the new purchases and was in bed not too long after that.  On the whole it was a great day out.  I really enjoyed it.  

I was excited to head out to National Bookshop Day, but really felt it was under-advertised and attended.  Books are not exactly a niche market, and I really expected bigger crowds.  Maybe that was because I am an avid reader, but I really felt almost disappointed with the poor turnout at the shops.  My housemate and I deliberately avoided big-box chain bookstores, heading instead to the smaller independent shops.  We walked past a big-box bookstore that had fundraisers dressed as fictional characters (although I am still trying to understand the Star Wars Storm-Troopers and Jar-Jar Binks; I am sure they were only books AFTER the movie came out).  The characters really made it hard to walk past the store without wondering what was going on.  I know the small, independent bookshops can't really compete with the big-box store's marketing, but I still felt a little bit cheated.  National Bookshop Day or not, I definitely recommend that if you can, head out to independent bookshops in your area.  You never know what treasures you may find in them.  Ohh, and talk to the clerks, they will help you if you have no idea what you want.  Last thought for the day, Classic books are so much more than the stuff that is required reading in schools; check out the stuff that is not assigned reading, that’s where the fun is.

Happy Reading Everyone,
Oliver

One Bear's Opinion -- Book Review

Monsieur Pamplemousse Omnibus Volume 3 by Michael Bond
          Monsieur Pamplemousse Stands Firm
          Monsieur Pamplemousse on Location
          Monsieur Pamplemousse Takes the Train

This omnibus edition contains three full novels in one volume.  I read all three novels before reviewing them altogether.  I could have read the novels one at a time, but I do not like to leave books unfinished, and reading the novels one at a time felt too much like leaving an unfinished book.

First though, yes, this Michael Bond is exactly the same as the Michael Bond who is the author of the Paddington Bear series.  And in all honesty, I have only read one Paddington Bear book, but I have seen the animated shorts featuring Paddington.  I shall have to search out more of the books, because I understand he is a very good bear, even if he gets things all a bit jumbled before he works them out.

Monsieur Pamplemousse is a series of mysteries, well not even really mysteries, as the mysterious situations are really never "solved."  The books are much more a collection of humorous events in Monsieur Pamplemousse's life.  Many of the situations are not of his creating, exactly, but more often than not set into motion by the Director of Le Guide, the hotel and restaurant review publication for which Monsieur Pamplemousse works.  Most of the situations are ridiculous and made even more so when the back story of Monsieur Pamplemousse's early retirement from the Paris police force is mentioned.  I shall not spoil any of the books by telling this bit, though it is mentioned, if never adequately explained, in every novel.

As I said, this is not a series of serious novels, and was never intended to be.  You simply cannot expect a series of novels with the main characters named Mister Grapefruit and French Fries to be serious or heavy reading.  Ohh, yes, I forgot to mention my favorite character in the novels.  If the situations are more often than not set into motion by the Director, they are usually brought to a successful conclusion by the actions of Monsieur Pamplemousse's faithful bloodhound, Pommes Frites.  Pommes Frites is a former police dog, and while not the swiftest thinker of dogs, he is very deliberate and thorough.  He usually figures out the situation long before Monsieur Pamplemousse. Every novel needs a character like Pommes Frites.

Monsieur Pamplemousse Stands Firm is set in a town on the northern French Atlantic coast  and revolves around the recovery of works of art stolen and hidden by the Germans during their occupation of France.  Well, that's the back story anyway.  Like most of the other Monsieur Pamplemousse books, the back story is merely a plot device to set Monsieur Pamplemousse in motion and to engage him in as many comedic compromising situations as possible.  This one had a particularly fun scene involving a hat and a walk through town.  It was definitely a fun episode.

Monsieur Pamplemousse on Location has Monsieur Pamplemousse serving as the culinary consultant to a series of commercials based on the Bible for a newly introduced perfume.  The situations in this episode actually involve the Director and not Monsieur Pamplemousse, but he still has to extricate the Director from the dicey situation.  It's nice to see the Director in strife because of his plans.  It was a great adventure!  I do wish I could see the commercials though.  I would love to be able to see perfume commercials based on the Bible!

Monsieur Pamplemousse Takes the Train is set on Monsieur Pamplemousse's home-turf in Paris, and it's nice to see both him and Pommes Frites at home.  The premise of this episode is that Monsieur Pamplemousse must escort the Director's niece from Rome to Paris for her school holidays.  Hilarity ensues when Monsieur Pamplemousse and Pommes Frites lose the young lady and are then under threat from the Director's Uncle Caputo.  It's a great episode in the series and does not disappoint as an excellent escape from reality.

I would highly recommend the Monsieur Pamplemousse series, and this omnibus edition is perfect for packing three books one one trip.  It is a bit unwieldy without a table or other ledge on which to rest the large tome, but it's worth it for the three-in-one aspect.  My only real complaint is that the proofreader seems to have lost their place in a few sections of a couple of the novels.  It's a bit hard to forgive, but still it's definitely worth the time!

One Bear's Opinion:  Four cups of tea with yummy pain au chocolat, three times over

Happy Reading Everyone, 
Oliver