I told you...

... once you start reading the books, you just cannot stop! I'll try to reduce the posts by combining several books into one post - like I did before - but this one deserves its own post. Such a brilliant book!

4. N OR M? (Tommy & Tuppence)
Tommy and Tuppence as undercover agents during the second World War! They are tracking down two German spies at Sans Souci guesthouse, so the book should actually be called N and M! A lot of action and one is never bored with Tommy and Tuppence!

Memorable quotes:
-"... we can win the war ... but only if we don't lost it first."
-"I'm in this to enjoy myself and I'm going to enjoy myself."
-"Women are all very well in their place, but not before breakfast."
-"I won't say "Take care of yourself", because I gather that the whole point is that you should do just the opposite. But don't go and be stupid."

Favourite Guest Character: Tuppence. If she's too regular, then Carl.
Mystery: *****
Final Solution: ****
Entertainment: *****
14/15

I also managed to buy some new fabrics, so expect a sewing post soon!

Reading...

There will be plenty of reading posts in the future as I decided to read the complete collection of Agatha Christie's novels. Yes, my Mom had the books and once you start reading them it's so difficult to stop!

3. THREE ACT TRAGEDY (Poirot)
An actor hosts a cocktail party when a guest, a clergyman, suddenly dies. No poison and no motive. A while later the same guests meet at another party. Will something similar happen. Will there maybe be a third act? Could Poirot be one of the victims?

Favourite Guest Character: Egg.
Mystery: ****
Final Solution: ***
Entertainment: ** (***** for the last line!)
9/15


2. CARDS ON THE TABLE (Poirot)
Mr. Shaitana rounds up the usual suspects for a game of bridge: four suspected criminals and four sleuths. But before the game is over, a murder occurs. Four suspected, four (hi)stories and only one who did it. A proof that not playing bridge can be dangerous.

Favourite Guest Character: Mr Shaitana.
Mystery: **
Final Solution: ***
Entertainment: ***
8/15


1. MRS McGINTY'S DEAD (Poirot)
Mrs. McGinty's murderer is about to be hanged. But the police have second doubts and they ask Poirot for help. He soon finds himself in a Miss-Marplesque village, full of "old pussies" where everyone seems to know something but noone tells everything. Poirot finds four photographs from a newspaper and it turns out that one has been seen someplace else. But where? Too many persons, too much digging up the past and some hilarious scenes at the village guesthouse.

Favourite Guest Character: Mrs Summerhayes.
Mystery: ****
Final Solution: **
Entertainment: ****
10/15

Bag shopping

Finally, a post about bags. But I didn't make them, I just bought them for my cousin and for me.




I LOVE these bags from Janine King on Etsy.

Swimwear

I made this a while ago: actually these were the last pieces I made before embarking on a trekking tour through the desert. Of course, the last thing one makes is swimwear :-)

Sewing such an extremely elastic fabric is challenging but definitely doable:




I made a one-piece swimsuit...


and a two-piece as well. This is the (out-of-focus) back of the top. I just love it!

Sewing time!

It's been a while since I made something interesting (say, not tent curtains) but now it's time for some boy's trousers again. Yesterday I first bought the new issue of Burda, loved the boy's surfer trousers so much that I bought some very light cotton fabrics and started sewing right away (after I washed the fabric, of course).






I was very pleased with the result - until MrMojcek said the trousers looked old-fashioned. Oh, well.

Peut-être we can ignore ziss Abwesenheit

I grew up in a country where people are used to watching films with subtitles. So I don't mind them - I actually quite like having them especially if you cannot turn up the volume due to a sleeping kid in the room next door.

However, the subtitles one finds in the Internet are often quite crappy. Painful to watch to the point where I decided they need to be improved. So I chose one of the films with the worst subtitle/film quality ratio and started correcting it.

Did you guess which film it was from the title of this post?
La Grande Vadrouille!
Aber natürlisch.



And yes, it is challenging to translate this tri-lingual film. Here some examples:

"Do you promise me que if I bring ici the Big Moustache, you partez avec lui ?"

- Qui êtes-vous ?
- Ich bin mari de la patronne, ich bin maître d’hôtel.
- Ah, comestible, gut, gut « guénéral »
- Non, non, non, je pas essen officier allemand.

The funny this is that after reading this melange of French, English and German, it takes me a few seconsd to realise which language I'm currently translating from. So confusing.

Currently...

... I'm not feeling well.

What helps me to get through these days are:
The Veils - The Leavers Dance
The Airborne Toxic Event - Sometime Around Midnight
Madrugada - What's on your mind
Ludovico Einaudi - Primavera
Kronos Quartet - Kutambarara
Pink Panter - the complete series.

If you have any suggestions how to broaden my horizons, please share them with me.

Oh, and to add to my depression: my camera's got some dust on the sensor that needs to be cleaned before I take another picture. I guess high technology and desert do not go together that well.