A Voyage on Sunday
2 journalers for this copy...
Yippee! My copy of "Voyage on Sunday" has arrived! The only problem - it's number five in the Geoffry Chadwick series, and I've only read the first two. (I was saving numbers three and four to savor, fearing there wouldn't be any more; they're that good!) So - do I dash off and read "Sunday Best" and "Working on Sunday" so I can start "Voyage" (and then fret about whether there'll be a sixth Chadwick book), or do I relax and enjoy them one by one? Decisions, decisions...
I finished reading the previous four Geoffry Chadwick books (Sunday's Child, Buried on Sunday, Sunday Best, Working on Sunday ) some time ago, but I was saving this one because I don't want the series to end, and I don't know whether Phillips is planning to write another Chadwick book or not. But I finally gave in to temptation and read A Voyage on Sunday, and was pleased to find that Chadwick is still his acerbic self. [If you haven't read any of the previous books you could probably still enjoy this one, but as the character's history and his development is part of the fun of the series I'd recommend starting at the beginning.]
As this book opens, Chadwick has recently retired from his law firm, and is somewhat surprised to find that he's not the least bit bored with all the free time. One drawback soon presents itself, though; without his work to use as an excuse, he finds it harder to avoid being drafted into helping with a gala fund-raiser on behalf of the library. Not that he'd mind supporting a good cause, but in this case the fund-raiser's an amateur performance of "Hedda Gabler"... Lots of wonderfully snarky dialogue results from all this, but it's just the setup for the main story: Elinor, the widow whom Geoffry's been seeing, wins a cruise for two as a raffle prize at the benefit, but she can't go, so she urges Geoffry to go instead, and take along a friend. The friend he chooses turns out to be a man who was his first boyhood crush. The two of them have long since gotten past that and reached an uncomplicated friendship (at a distance, as Frank travels a great deal in his work); still, once they're away on the cruise they find themselves thrown together quite a bit, and perhaps there's still a spark... (At one point Geoffry and Frank are chatting cheerfully about the drawbacks of aging and begin to quip about "rollicking sex lives at 95", with Frank saying "Do you suppose there is money to be made from a Joy of Sex manual aimed at geriatrics? Ten positions you should avoid. How to turn a kiss into mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. How to distinguish hyperventilation from passion. Orgasm is not a stroke.")
Much of the story's about the drawbacks of cruise-ship life, only some of which are due to Chadwick's preferences for more quiet, solitude, and decent manners than seem available on the ship. Iffy service, uncongenial table-mates, and a growing epidemic of some kind of flu all contribute to the "this is not fun" feeling - but reading about it through Chadwick's alternately bemused and outraged sarcasm is very entertaining indeed. He also finds himself contemplating his past (with flashbacks to many events mentioned in previous books, including his marriage, the death of his wife and child, and his subsequent relationships with men) and wondering what his future will hold: he has a loving (if not romantically "in love") relationship going with Elinor, and she seems to be as comfortable and realistic about their pasts and their respective needs as he is. But when those sparks re-kindle between himself and Frank, he realizes that it's only for men that he can feel that overall romantic love, and he wonders whether he can - or should - choose between that and the comfort of his current relationship.
Luckily (or perhaps not) for him, fate intervenes at a key point or two, but the final decision's still his; I wasn't surprised at it, but I can't help wondering what's going to happen next, and I do hope Phillips writes another book to let us know!
Side note: while the first four "Sunday" books featured crimes of one sort or another and thus qualified as mysteries (though just barely, as the crimes were usually secondary to the main plot), this one has no overt crime at all. Well, there's one incident that came very, very close (and that reminded me of a scene in Sunday's Child, but - oddly enough - did not seem to remind Chadwick, though perhaps he has chosen to erase that incident from his memory!), but it took up barely a page or two. Not that I'm complaining; I rather like it when books meander across genre boundaries {grin}.
Some quotes that amused me:
"To pour Coke into good scotch was not unlike spreading caviar on Oreos, but 'chaqu'un à son goo.'"
And this, from Frank to (and about) Geoffry: "In some ways, Chadwick, you are a dreadful snob. But I don't mind in the least. Snobs are romantics; they can remember or recreate an earlier, better time when imaginary values enhanced a make-believe world. To be a true snob requires imagination, and people with imagination are more interesting to be around." (As I'd been thinking all through the book that Geoffry is indeed a bit of a snob - though not in a bad way, and always with perfect manners - I found this comment from Frank timely and delightful.)
As this book opens, Chadwick has recently retired from his law firm, and is somewhat surprised to find that he's not the least bit bored with all the free time. One drawback soon presents itself, though; without his work to use as an excuse, he finds it harder to avoid being drafted into helping with a gala fund-raiser on behalf of the library. Not that he'd mind supporting a good cause, but in this case the fund-raiser's an amateur performance of "Hedda Gabler"... Lots of wonderfully snarky dialogue results from all this, but it's just the setup for the main story: Elinor, the widow whom Geoffry's been seeing, wins a cruise for two as a raffle prize at the benefit, but she can't go, so she urges Geoffry to go instead, and take along a friend. The friend he chooses turns out to be a man who was his first boyhood crush. The two of them have long since gotten past that and reached an uncomplicated friendship (at a distance, as Frank travels a great deal in his work); still, once they're away on the cruise they find themselves thrown together quite a bit, and perhaps there's still a spark... (At one point Geoffry and Frank are chatting cheerfully about the drawbacks of aging and begin to quip about "rollicking sex lives at 95", with Frank saying "Do you suppose there is money to be made from a Joy of Sex manual aimed at geriatrics? Ten positions you should avoid. How to turn a kiss into mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. How to distinguish hyperventilation from passion. Orgasm is not a stroke.")
Much of the story's about the drawbacks of cruise-ship life, only some of which are due to Chadwick's preferences for more quiet, solitude, and decent manners than seem available on the ship. Iffy service, uncongenial table-mates, and a growing epidemic of some kind of flu all contribute to the "this is not fun" feeling - but reading about it through Chadwick's alternately bemused and outraged sarcasm is very entertaining indeed. He also finds himself contemplating his past (with flashbacks to many events mentioned in previous books, including his marriage, the death of his wife and child, and his subsequent relationships with men) and wondering what his future will hold: he has a loving (if not romantically "in love") relationship going with Elinor, and she seems to be as comfortable and realistic about their pasts and their respective needs as he is. But when those sparks re-kindle between himself and Frank, he realizes that it's only for men that he can feel that overall romantic love, and he wonders whether he can - or should - choose between that and the comfort of his current relationship.
Luckily (or perhaps not) for him, fate intervenes at a key point or two, but the final decision's still his; I wasn't surprised at it, but I can't help wondering what's going to happen next, and I do hope Phillips writes another book to let us know!
Side note: while the first four "Sunday" books featured crimes of one sort or another and thus qualified as mysteries (though just barely, as the crimes were usually secondary to the main plot), this one has no overt crime at all. Well, there's one incident that came very, very close (and that reminded me of a scene in Sunday's Child, but - oddly enough - did not seem to remind Chadwick, though perhaps he has chosen to erase that incident from his memory!), but it took up barely a page or two. Not that I'm complaining; I rather like it when books meander across genre boundaries {grin}.
Some quotes that amused me:
"To pour Coke into good scotch was not unlike spreading caviar on Oreos, but 'chaqu'un à son goo.'"
And this, from Frank to (and about) Geoffry: "In some ways, Chadwick, you are a dreadful snob. But I don't mind in the least. Snobs are romantics; they can remember or recreate an earlier, better time when imaginary values enhanced a make-believe world. To be a true snob requires imagination, and people with imagination are more interesting to be around." (As I'd been thinking all through the book that Geoffry is indeed a bit of a snob - though not in a bad way, and always with perfect manners - I found this comment from Frank timely and delightful.)
Journal Entry 3 by 
GoryDetails
at Sturbridge Coffee Roasters - 212 Hamilton St. in Southbridge, Massachusetts USA on Friday, February 9, 2007
GoryDetails at Sturbridge Coffee Roasters - 212 Hamilton St. in Southbridge, Massachusetts USA on Friday, February 9, 2007
Released 17 yrs ago (2/9/2007 UTC) at Sturbridge Coffee Roasters - 212 Hamilton St. in Southbridge, Massachusetts USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
RELEASE NOTES:
I plan to leave this book on the bookshelves at Sturbridge Coffee Roasters some time around noon.
To the finder: please take a moment to make a brief journal entry on this book to let me know that it's in safe hands. Then do as you please with it: read it, journal again with your thoughts about it, keep it, give it away or even join the fun by wild releasing it again. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy the book!
I plan to leave this book on the bookshelves at Sturbridge Coffee Roasters some time around noon.
To the finder: please take a moment to make a brief journal entry on this book to let me know that it's in safe hands. Then do as you please with it: read it, journal again with your thoughts about it, keep it, give it away or even join the fun by wild releasing it again. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy the book!
Found in a Goodwill thrift store
CAUGHT IN MANCHESTER CT USA
CAUGHT IN MANCHESTER CT USA
