Stuff That Makes Me Smile

 

by Sybil Johnson

I enjoyed Monday’s post by Thomas. I think we could all use a little fun in our lives right now. 

Here are a few things recently that have put a smile on my face. Maybe they’ll put a smile on yours.

Podcast: Behind The Page: The Eli Marks Podcast

John Gaspard writes the Eli Marks mysteries featuring magician Eli Marks and hosts this podcast with Jim Cunningham who narrates the books. There are 3 seasons so far. The first and second seasons were a combination of interviews with magicians on various topics as well as the reading of a chapter of the first 2 books in the series, The Ambitious Card and The Bullet Catch. The third season, the one I’m listening to right now, has yet more interviews with magicians (including Teller of Penn and Teller and, yes, he can talk) as well as readings of the short stories from his compilation, The Self-Working Trick. Just a lot of fun to listen to. The interviews have been fascinating and Jim does a bang-up job reading the stories. I’ve read all of the Eli Marks books so far, but I still enjoyed listening to them. Of course, if you only want to listen to the interviews, that’s possible.

TV: The Simple Heist

This is a Swedish program titled EnkelStöten. I watched it on Acorn TV. Unfortunately, the first season is no longer available, but the 2nd season is on Acorn as well as available through Hoopla Digital through libraries. Hopefully, the first season will come back somewhere so you can see it. I watched it with English subtitles. (I don’t care much for dubbing.)

The two leads are women in their 60s who have run into financial difficulties. One is a gastroenterologist who has managed to lose a lot of money in some bad financial investments. The other is a math teacher who is getting divorced. Her husband is enforcing a pre-nup, which means she essentially gets nothing. Someone they meet tells them about a bank that would be easy to rob. So that’s what they do. Of course, nothing goes according to plan.

I love these two characters and really wanted them to get away with it.

TV: The Great British Baking Show

It's called The Great British Bake Off in England. I’ve loved all of the episodes of this show. A new series started on Netflix a few weeks ago. The bakers get along, many of them becoming friends and keeping in touch after the program. They bake interesting things, many of which I’ve never heard of before. It’s just an enjoyable program to watch. Always puts a smile on my face and I even enjoy watching past seasons even though I’ve seen them already.

Books: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman 

I’d heard quite a bit about this book series so I decided to read the first one. I’ve now gotten on the Richard Osman bandwagon. The story takes place in England in a retirement community. Every Thursday, a group gets together to solve cold cases. They come from varied backgrounds, some very mysterious. Then a murder occurs involving their community and they decide to investigate. This is a fun read with lots of interesting characters. I’m looking forward to reading the next one.

What have you been reading/watching/listening to recently that has made you smile?