IN WHICH The Girl Tries to Solve a British Murder

Once a month, I get together with a couple friends from grad school for BBC Night. To clarify, BBC here stands for British Broadcasting Network, as I've been informed it has dirtier implications as well. Our BBC nights generally involve thai food, a decent amount of wine, and the viewing of a British television show.

You should know that I adore British television. I love the accents, the underhanded sarcasm, the wit (Sherlock), the focus on the past (Downton Abbey and every mini-series of a classic novel), the ridiculous of some (Doctor Who), the darkness of others (Luther), or the overall quality of the shows. I love British literature for many of the same reasons. As a teacher, we are observed in the classroom by our higher ups every once in awhile. Last fall, the person who observed me informed me that I had a very subtle but snarky wit when I lectured (I wasn't really sure if this was a good thing or not, but he seemed to think it was entertaining). He asked me where that snark came from, and I responded that I read a lot of British literature. He just nodded like that was a perfectly acceptable response.

So during the course of our BBC nights, which have now been going on for several years, we have watched a large variety of shows: every episode of Sherlock, Downton Abbey, and Luther, plus some Doctor Who, Coupling, Top of the Lake, and at least two versions of Jane Eyre. Last night we started watching Broadchurch, which I had heard was good but knew very little about. So far, it's excellent. The show starts with the murder of an eleven year old boy in a small close-knit community. Yes, not the happiest of topics, but intriguing. The season follows the investigation of this one murder. We have watched three out of the eight episodes in the first season, and I quite literally have no idea who committed this murder. Like all small town dramas, everyone knows each other, but they all have secrets. Every character is suspicious in one way or another, even the kids. I appreciate the fact that the killer is not instantly recognizable. See the trailer below:

The show has a good balance of suspense, drama, and emotion with some wonderful actors. I'm especially happy to see David Tennant, my favorite doctor for you Whovians. You will probably start to notice a pattern here, but I have two main British loves: Benedict Cumberbatch and David Tennant (Idris Elba ranks pretty high as well). While Tennant doesn't have the effervescence and hyperactivity here that he portrays in Doctor Who, he taps into his darker (and more haggard) side to represent the lead detective on the case. He's clearly struggling with both his own conscience, clues point to a past case gone bad, and some sort of drug or medical issue that hasn't been revealed yet. However, I did question why every lead detective in this type of murder mystery has to be both physically and mentally damaged. Granted, dealing with murder on a regular basis would probably take its toll. Tennant stars in the American remake of the show as well, but listening to him with an American accent seriously disturbs me. I think I'll just stick to the British version.

Overall, I'm totally hooked on Broadchurch at this point. Sadly, I need to wait three more weeks for our next BBC night to watch the rest. It's truly considered a betrayal to sneak ahead (though we've all been known to do it at one point or another).

IN WHICH The Girl Wants Benedict Cumberbatch to Read to Her

You know what makes reading easier? Listening instead. Granted, I don't really mind reading as an activity; in fact, I love it. However, I've recently started listening to audiobooks, and I actually quite enjoy the experience. If you've never listened to an audiobook, or it has been awhile, I recommend giving one a shot.

In certain circumstances, I find reading an actual book most inconvenient, say when driving a car. During the school year, I spend a lot of time transporting myself from one school to another. Last fall, I worked at four schools in four completely different cities throughout the Chicagoland area (oh the joys of adjuncting). I spent several hours a day driving and the radio gets real old after about a half hour. And even when I don't have to drive, I usually spend multiple hours on public transportation, hopping from bus to train to bus to walking etc. etc. During all of these activities, it is simply easier to listen to a book instead of read one. I even started listening to books on the beach because I can never seem to comfortably manage reading a book while lying on my stomach.

Technology, oh that wonderful and frustrating set of toys, makes it incredibly easy to use audiobooks today. While you can certainly still buy the big packs of CDs, those only really work if you have a permanent car - which I don't - because otherwise you have to keep finding your spot in the story over and over again. Plus, it's not like I still have a discman to carry around when I'm not in a car. But if you have a smart phone, you can just download an audiobook to your phone. It's fast, you don't have to go anywhere, and it will save your spot for you. In a car with bluetooth, you can then listen to it though the radio. Or you can just plug in your earphones during all sorts of activities. Science!

To make it even better, you can find tons of free audiobooks to download from the library. Audiobook CD sets are actually fairly expensive otherwise. There are also resources like Audible from Amazon for audiobooks, but they charge a fee as well. I think I give a spiel about the library to every person I know. To my understanding, people seem quite terrified of libraries after they graduate school. However, just like everything else, libraries have evolved with the times. You can now get thousands of ebooks and audiobooks from the library website without ever having to step foot in a physical library, should you not want to deal with those crazy book people.

There's even an app called OverDrive Media that will connect to your local library website and let you download your ebooks and audiobooks through it. From my experience, you can actually find more audiobooks instantly available from the library than ebooks because people don't check them out as often. Plus, even if some mean person got to the book you want first, you can put it on hold and have the website automatically check it out for you once it's available. On the opposite end, the book just disappears at the end of your lending time, usually 21 days, so you never have to worry about late fees. If you then check the book out again later, the program also saves your spot in the book. How much more convenient can it get? I strongly feel that people should both have access to and take advantage of free books. I once passed the public library in Boise, Idaho, which had an exclamation point after the name of the library, and I thought, "Yes, that's the kind of enthusiasm we need for our libraries!"

While this audiobook business is all fun and games, there are a few things to keep in mind. One, it can be hard to do two things at once, for me at least. Therefore, I tend to choose light books that I can follow even if I miss a line or two while I'm paying attention to traffic or listening to a train announcement. You don't want to have to keep rewinding to catch an important detail. In the last few months I have listened to The Great Gatsby (having read it several times before so not needing extreme powers of attention), one of the Matched young adult books, and several murder mysteries. I, nevertheless, declined to download the audiobook version of The Sound and the Fury for this reason. In addition, it can be odd to listen to a voice other than your own read the story. Sometimes the speaker's voice annoys me or doesn't fit with what I imagine in my own head, but most of the time he or she has a pleasing timbre. Why can't Benedict Cumberbatch read every book? Lastly, downloading the books can use an incredible amount of data, so always download them when you have wi-fi unless you have some amazing data plan.

Now I just need to decide which book to download for the flight I'm taking this weekend. Choices... choices...