Reviewing "Manxmouse" by Paul Gallico

...for all his small size and defenselessness, when it came to doing something for others, there seemed to be nothing Manxmouse would not dare.

~ Manxmouse by Paul Gallico, page 111

Most epic stories follow heroes—usually warriors—who go on adventures, quests, and journeys where they protect the weak, defeat monsters and villains, and eventually earn their glorious reward and a place in legend and history.

Manxmouse: The Mouse Who Knew No Fear by Paul Gallico is an epic tale, but its protagonist is a mouse—a fearless, good-hearted mouse, but still a mouse—and the story follows him on a rambling adventure where he protects elephants and tigers and defeats his own fate, before settling down into a happy ending that isn’t quite the norm for epic legends. 

Reviewing “Dead Man’s Folly” by Agatha Christie

As I neared the end of Agatha Christie’s Poirot mystery, Dead Man’s Folly, I was reminded of another mystery writer, Rex Stout. Stout’s Nero Wolfe novels tend to be named in similar ways—for instance, including numbers (especially 3) such as Three Doors to Death, Curtains for Three, Triple Jeopardy, etc.  One of the other common titling “habits” was the title “Too Many ____”: Too Many Cooks, Too Many Women, and Too Many Clients.

It’s of this latter titling habit I thought of when reading Dead Man’s Folly, because there are too many suspects.

I Read This Because of Shark Week

A few years ago I was watching Discovery Channel’s Shark Week when a documentary came on about three men whose plane crashed into the ocean during World War II, and how they had to survive on a life raft for weeks—all the while being stalked by sharks, of course. I actually didn’t finish watching that documentary, since I prefer the more scientific documentaries to some of the Shark Week programs that are aimed more at Jaws-like drama, complete with reenactments filmed by shaking cameras and terse music.

I looked up the story online, mostly curious as to how much was true and how much dramatized. To my surprise, the story was even more dramatic than the documentary; the sharks were hardly the most perilous part!