The Week in Entertainment

Live: A wonderful production of The Nose at the Met. Shostakovich isn't my favorite composer (too discordant), but The Nose is miles better than Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, plus Gogol and Zamyatin mean the libretto is excellent, and funny! And so well sung, with a staging that actually puts the crazy music to good use.

TV: Grimm is back, and one helluva season opener! The Mentalist - unfortunately, Kathy, "Red John: The Final Chapter" seems to be the season arc... The comedies were good. I particularly liked Sean Saves The World and Modern Family this week. Agents of SHIELD continues to be very entertaining and hint at complexities in this not-our world. Orphan Black continues to amaze with Tatiana Maslany's brilliance.

Read: I forgot last week that I had read The Reluctant Detective until I saw it in my Kindle carousel Monday morning. That's because it was eminently forgettable, with a protagonist of the "although I am not a real PI I am nonetheless going to track this SOB down and make him pay by myself and will therefore deliberately withhold any pertinent information from the cops" school. Finished Dissident Gardens. Loved it. Still not entirely sure about that last chapter - did it need to be there? - but even so, it's a wonderful book. Found Ajax Penumbra 1969 and went back for a quick reread of Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, which I read almost exactly a year ago. (Enjoyed the re-read, too.) Also reread Good Omens, because, well, Good Omens. Some oldish myteries - The Elusive Bullet, a short story, and two by Christianna Brand (The Crooked Wreath and Heads You Lose) which were both excellent.