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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Mordor: twinned with Slough
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
I did just reread "A Talent to Deceive", Robert Barnard's book about Agatha Christie. I found it insightful, although I'm not the keenest fan of Christie.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
I am still Delderfielding - I know it is not classic literature but he is a good storyteller. I am nearly at the end of the second volume of A Horseman Riding By which was the first I read of his some 30 or more years ago - my mum insisted I read it, which rather put me off, but I did and I liked it as much as I like it now.
Thanks to PeteC for putting me in touch with Abe Books which I have found to be a great, if economically dangerous, resource.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
Have just finished reading Christmas present Asterix and the Pechts, 'translated into Pechtish' or sort-of Scottish dialect. The detail in the illustration is incredible, down to the stone carvings in the background and woad tatoos. Some characters have new Pechtish names: Obelix's dog, Dogmatix in English, is now Geitbiglix. Also I'll be borrowing some of the phrases. From now on, my Scottish friend who, when excited, has a little period of quicker and thicker-accented speech will be said to have 'the Bubbly Jocks'.
I'd forgotten in the intervening 2½ decades how good Asterix books are, and this one is a cracker.
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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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Starbug
Shipmate
# 15917
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Posted
I started off reading Tune In by Marc Lewisohn. This is part one of a three-volume biography of The Beatles, which covers up to December 1962. I've been waiting for this book (like other Beatles fans) for nearly 10 years, so it's disappointing to get a third of the way through the book and find that, actually, I don't really like these young men. In fact, so far, they're coming across as the kind of intimidating louts that I'd cross the street to avoid. For example, their treatment of Stu Sutcliffe - while they're happy to bully him (even his so-called best friend, John Lennon), they don't have the guts to actually fire him from the band.
After waiting for this book for so long, I'm now feeling the need to intersperse it with others. One of my Christmas presents was the novel Valentine Grey by Sandi Toksvig, which is about a young girl who pretends to be a man in order to fight in the Boer War. It's an excellent read so far. As well as Valentine's story, there's also a touching love story between her cousin Reggie and his lover, Frank.
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“Oh the pointing again. They're screwdrivers! What are you going to do? Assemble a cabinet at them?” ― The Day of the Doctor
Posts: 1189 | From: West of the New Forest | Registered: Sep 2010
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Smudgie
Ship's Barnacle
# 2716
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Posted
The gift of a Kindle from the Smudgelet for Christmas has broadened my opportunities for building on my rediscovered love of reading... though possibly not doing much for my new year's resolution of "getting things done". At the moment I'm Kindling Mappamundi by Chris Hewitt which is a nice easy read and my "real" book is The Summer House by Santa Montafiore which I am really enjoying racing though - another easy read and a fairly predictable storyline but one of those books you can laze away a good hour with.
Zappa, I've been a John Grisham fan for years - he's another author I'm planning to read more of.
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Miss you, Erin.
Posts: 14382 | From: Under the duvet | Registered: Apr 2002
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Jack the Lass
Ship's airhead
# 3415
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Posted
I'm currently reading national treasure Clare Balding's autobiography "My Animals and Other Family", about her childhood through the 'lens' of the various family pets and horses (her dad was a champion racehorse trainer). I'm really enjoying it, it's written with a very light touch, particularly when you consider what an unusual childhood it was - the Queen came to tea twice a year when she visited her horses there, and as well as family there are all sorts of characters around the place - nannies, stablehands, owners, etc. She's remarkably sanguine about her (pretty distant, ISTM) parents, and always writes with humour and affection. Definitely recommended.
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"My body is a temple - it's big and doesn't move." (Jo Brand)
wiblog blipfoto blog
Posts: 5767 | From: the land of the deep-fried Mars Bar | Registered: Oct 2002
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
I finally managed to get my hands on Asterix and the Picts. Not as good as some of the classic Asterixes, but definitely a worthy continuation of the legacy.
(Sorry, just saw that it was mentioned before on this thread.)
[ 05. January 2014, 10:31: Message edited by: LeRoc ]
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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chive
Ship's nude
# 208
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Posted
I've just read my way through the complete set of James Bond stories. They were thoroughly entertaining if one puts the racism and sexism in their time context. Remarkably silly as well. It was entertaining to see the difference between the books and the films too. I now think I should read something a bit more serious.
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'Edward was the kind of man who thought there was no such thing as a lesbian, just a woman who hadn't done one-to-one Bible study with him.' Catherine Fox, Love to the Lost
Posts: 3542 | From: the cupboard under the stairs | Registered: May 2001
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
I was reading The 4.50 to Paddington, but my wife apparently took the Nook with her to church. I cannot find it anywhere about the house! I am nearly done....
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Keren-Happuch
Ship's Eyeshadow
# 9818
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Posted
I had a lovely lot of books for Christmas which should keep me going for a while. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
I'm currently reading Roads to Berlin by Cees Nooteboom, translated by Laura Watkinson, which I'm finding fascinating. And I'm also slowly working through Philip Pullman's retelling of the Grimm fairytales, - nice to dip in and out of, and with interesting notes at the end of each story. Even if the stories themselves are occasionally odder than I'd remembered!
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Travesty, treachery, betrayal!
EXCESS - The Art of Treason
Nea Fox
Posts: 2407 | From: A Fine City | Registered: Jul 2005
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
I've just started reading The Cost of Sugar ('Hoe duur was de suiker') by Cynthia Mac Leod about the Dutch slavery system in Surinam. Very gripping.
quote:
Keren-Happuch: I'm currently reading Roads to Berlin by Cees Nooteboom, translated by Laura Watkinson, which I'm finding fascinating.
I don't think I've read this one, thanks for pointing me to it.
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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Clotilde
Shipmate
# 17600
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Posted
I wish I hadn't so many book tokens! I use Amazon mainly and I just don't go to bookshops, and if I do I can't remeber what I want. I suppose browsing in a bookshop and buuying just what tickles the fancy is the best way with book tokens.
I picked up a couple of Max Hardcastle's 'Tales from the Dales' books on our church book stall and thought I will give one at least a go. I love the Yorkshire Dales!
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A witness of female resistance
Posts: 159 | From: A man's world | Registered: Mar 2013
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Clotilde
Shipmate
# 17600
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Posted
Thinking of Yorkshire Dales I wonder if along the lines of this thread's name 'discount ticket to everywhere' - you read a novel about a place before or after visiting.
Sometimes I do and I find it great fun. Its not always easy to track down books to help one do this but sometimes I have managed.
For example I read a great Eric Ambler years ago just after visiting Nice and the French Riviera and it help evoke the places I'd visited while also giving fresh insight too.
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A witness of female resistance
Posts: 159 | From: A man's world | Registered: Mar 2013
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Chorister
Completely Frocked
# 473
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Posted
Well, I've never been to Chartres and am not likely to do so in the near future. But I am enjoying getting into a novel by Salley Vickers which is set there, called 'The Cleaner of Chartres'. Perhaps I'll want to visit once I've read the book?
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Retired, sitting back and watching others for a change.
Posts: 34626 | From: Cream Tealand | Registered: Jun 2001
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Clotilde
Shipmate
# 17600
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Posted
Years ago I enjoyed a holiday in Reykyavik, the capital city of Iceland. We saw many of the sights of the city and went into the interior too.
Later I read some of the novels of Arnaldur Indridason - and saw a very different Reykyavik to the one I had visited.
The tourist sees something different from the resident, I guess. Different perspectives, neither right, neither wrong!
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A witness of female resistance
Posts: 159 | From: A man's world | Registered: Mar 2013
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venbede
Shipmate
# 16669
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Chorister:
Well, I've never been to Chartres and am not likely to do so in the near future. But I am enjoying getting into a novel by Salley Vickers which is set there, called 'The Cleaner of Chartres'. Perhaps I'll want to visit once I've read the book?
It's lovely, (the book: for some reason I've been depressed the two times I've been to Chartres.)
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Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.
Posts: 3201 | From: An historic market town nestling in the folds of Surrey's rolling North Downs, | Registered: Sep 2011
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
Has anybody else ever read a book wishing a different author had got ahold of the plot?
I've been reading The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez-Reverte. The plot revolves around the restoration of a 15th century Flemish painting of a chess game and a mystery involving the players portrayed - but then one of the researchers ends up dead. *gasp* Is it connected? Will our heroine survive to solve the puzzle? Will anybody give a damn by the time we find out? It's written in a consciously literary way, leaving no detail unwritten but telling you nothing. The characters, to a man, are brattish and a bit stupid. The painting barely gets a mention after the first half, the rest of the story unravels in all directions by the end leaving truck-size plot holes. I was so disappointed and frustrated I nearly called the book to Hell and kept wishing somebody else could have rewritten the book. ![[Mad]](angryfire.gif)
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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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Adeodatus
Shipmate
# 4992
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Posted
I'm within 30 pages of finishing Ray Bradbury's Death is a Lonely Business, the first Bradbury I've ever read.
A strange, unsettling book, dripping with atmosphere. It's a stylish noir mystery, but with a generous dash of surrealism thrown in. Vivid characters, densely-painted locations and a level of creepiness that's made me averse to reading it at night.
Off to find some more by Mr Bradbury soon...
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"What is broken, repair with gold."
Posts: 9779 | From: Manchester | Registered: Sep 2003
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
Just finished "I Capture the Castle" by Dodie Smith.
I enjoyed this at first, but found it a bit tedious as it progressed. Interesting, well written and full of character but quite insular. None the less, it does keep you wondering which of the three men in her life the heroine is going to end up with and whether her father will write anything again.
One of those books that you read once but probably not a second time, IMO.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Barefoot Friar
Ship's Shoeless Brother
# 13100
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Posted
Has anyone read "Love in the Time of Cholera"? What did you think?
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Do your little bit of good where you are; its those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world. -- Desmond Tutu
Posts: 1621 | From: Warrior Mountains | Registered: Oct 2007
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Scots lass
Shipmate
# 2699
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Posted
I've just finished Longbourn, Jo Baker's retelling of Pride & Prejudice from the point of view of the servants. Mrs Bennet and Mr Collins come off better than you might expect, and Wickham is slightly more villainous! It's very good, readable and with attention to detail - often speech in this type of book jars as not quite right, but this didn't feel too far off. The household side of things also feels authentic, I remember reading some things about women in the home when I was at university and this all tied together with that, so I got the overall impression of a well-researched, well planned book. I started it on my commute home on Tuesday and finished it at lunchtime today, having wanted to read it in every spare minute and only not finishing it earlier because I had the tail end of a migraine to deal with!
Posts: 863 | From: the diaspora | Registered: Apr 2002
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Keren-Happuch
Ship's Eyeshadow
# 9818
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Posted
Oh, I want to read that, Scot's Lass! I've just finished PD James' Death Comes to Pemberley - wasn't going to bother with it having seen iffy reviews when it first came out, but enjoyed the TV version in a low expectations, Christmassy kind of way and then found a copy for 20p in a charity shop...
Anyway, I did enjoy the book but was quite startled by how much was altered for the telly. Some of their changes seemed to make more sense of it and others less. I mostly liked the dialogue and found some of it quite convincingly Austenesque while other parts slipped more into standard crime novel. And a niggle which others on here might understand - I was so pleased for most of the book that the clergy were addressed as Mr Surname and then right at the end she slipped and Reverend Surname started creeping in. Grr!
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Travesty, treachery, betrayal!
EXCESS - The Art of Treason
Nea Fox
Posts: 2407 | From: A Fine City | Registered: Jul 2005
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Eigon
Shipmate
# 4917
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Posted
I've just started Hobson's Choice, by Harold Brighouse, and I'm already delighted by the first scene, where Maggie sells boots to her sister's suitor. It's one of the great Manchester/Salford novels, and I thought it was about time I actually read it, having found The Manchester Man a year or so ago (and I enjoyed that, too - but how the hero suffers!). I've seen the film, of course, with Charles Laughton and John Mills.
Posts: 3710 | From: Hay-on-Wye, town of books | Registered: Aug 2003
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
This week I've been reading two new books that have been quite absorbing. The first is "Twelve Years A Slave", which probably doesn't need explanation as the film's now in the cinema. It's a very articulate, well-written book that puts the author's point of view across extremely well; he doesn't play it for emotion, which makes the story more moving as it unfolds. The gaps, and silences, are also quite revealing. "I worked there for several years..." and you can only imagine what that long, dreary period in his life must have been like. The happy ending leaves you wondering about the others who weren't so fortunate.
The other book is "A City of Women" by David Gillham. Set in wartime Berlin, this tells the story of Sigrid, a young married woman whose soldier husband is mostly away at the Russian Front. Unfulfilled, she gets involved with a lover, and bit by bit, is drawn into the world of helping Jews to evade capture by the Gestapo.
Written in the present tense, so the story unfolds almost as a living thing moment by moment, there are plenty of twists in the tale. Despite the period references, this book sucks you in to a modern-feeling, claustrophic, tense setup as Sigrid slips increasingly more deeply into a frightening world where anyone can betray anyone at any turn. A very atmospheric read and for once a novel where you can't predict the outcome.
[ 07. February 2014, 17:21: Message edited by: Ariel ]
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Keren-Happuch
Ship's Eyeshadow
# 9818
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Posted
I've just whizzed through Love Virtually by Daniel Glattauer, translated from German by Jamie Bulloch and Katharina Bielenberg. It's a love story told entirely in emails between two people who've never met but start emailing by accident. I found it gripping but rather unsettling and wasn't sure I liked either of the main characters all that much. Still, it's the sort of thing I want to see more of in translation, being non arty and pretentious, just a good story!
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Travesty, treachery, betrayal!
EXCESS - The Art of Treason
Nea Fox
Posts: 2407 | From: A Fine City | Registered: Jul 2005
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Pomona
Shipmate
# 17175
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Posted
Reading Sarah Water's The Night Watch again. Love how she captures the greyness of wartime/postwar (both periods are covered) London.
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Consider the work of God: Who is able to straighten what he has bent? [Ecclesiastes 7:13]
Posts: 5319 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2012
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Trudy Scrumptious
BBE Shieldmaiden
# 5647
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Scots lass:
I've just finished Longbourn, Jo Baker's retelling of Pride & Prejudice from the point of view of the servants. Mrs Bennet and Mr Collins come off better than you might expect, and Wickham is slightly more villainous! It's very good, readable and with attention to detail - often speech in this type of book jars as not quite right, but this didn't feel too far off. The household side of things also feels authentic, I remember reading some things about women in the home when I was at university and this all tied together with that, so I got the overall impression of a well-researched, well planned book. I started it on my commute home on Tuesday and finished it at lunchtime today, having wanted to read it in every spare minute and only not finishing it earlier because I had the tail end of a migraine to deal with!
I loved this one. One thing I really liked was how the story of Sarah and James sort of echoed the much better known Elizabeth/Darcy story -- making the point that it wasn't only middle-class and rich people who could be the subject of an engaging romance.
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Books and things.
I lied. There are no things. Just books.
Posts: 7428 | From: Closer to Paris than I am to Vancouver | Registered: Mar 2004
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Doc Tor
Deepest Red
# 9748
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Adeodatus:
I'm within 30 pages of finishing Ray Bradbury's Death is a Lonely Business, the first Bradbury I've ever read.
A strange, unsettling book, dripping with atmosphere. It's a stylish noir mystery, but with a generous dash of surrealism thrown in. Vivid characters, densely-painted locations and a level of creepiness that's made me averse to reading it at night.
Off to find some more by Mr Bradbury soon...
Something Wicked This Way Comes is probably my favouritist book ever. Just sayin'
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Forward the New Republic
Posts: 9131 | From: Ultima Thule | Registered: Jul 2005
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nickel
Shipmate
# 8363
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Posted
Out on a Limb: What Black Bears Have Taught Me about Intelligence and Intuition by Benjamin Kilham. Wow! Bears were one of my childhood nightmares. Every time my sister rolled over and rustled the covers, I was sure it was a BEAR! Okay, that was long ago and I (mostly) got over it, and could honor bears as Wild Creatures Part of Nature. But still scary.
I loved this book. First, it's grounded in 20+ years worth of hands-on no-foolin' observation of bears in the wild. Second, the author figured out how to successfully raise bear cubs to return to the wild (you might have seen a National Geographic tv special about it). Third, I learned a ton about bears (for instance, here's a fun fact: did you know fresh deer poop to bears, is like pro-biotics to us -- good for digestion?). Fourth, the author's ideas of how bear society might resemble early human society sparked my imagination.
Overall, I feel much better about bears for reading this book.
Posts: 547 | From: Virginia USA | Registered: Aug 2004
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Keren-Happuch
Ship's Eyeshadow
# 9818
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Posted
I recently finished Snow White Must Die by Nele Neuhaus, tr. Steven T Murray. It's about a young man Tobias returning to his home village after being jailed for the murders of his girlfriend and another girl, and the impact his arrival has on a tight-knit village community. Very good, in parts, irritating in others. The weird thing is that it's the 4th in a series but the first one to be available in English.
Now I'm reading Bar Flaubert by Alexis Stamatis, tr. David Connolly. Haven't really got going yet, but it's intriguing.
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Travesty, treachery, betrayal!
EXCESS - The Art of Treason
Nea Fox
Posts: 2407 | From: A Fine City | Registered: Jul 2005
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Twilight
Puddleglum's sister
# 2832
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
I am still Delderfielding - I know it is not classic literature but he is a good storyteller.
I'll say. About ten years ago I happened upon, Charlie, Come Home and read it almost in one sitting, then hogged all the rest in a matter of weeks. His characters are absolutely real.
Right now I'm in the middle, in every sense of the word, of The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey.
A middle-aged, childless couple give up their comfy life in Pennsylvania to try homesteading in Alaska in 1920. The hardships, long nights, severe weather and loneliness of the life has left them both depressed -- almost to suicide in the woman's case.
Then they make a "snow girl," out of the first soft snow of the winter and things take on a different tone. The book is beautiful and weird and I'm not sure if I love it or am trapped in it.
Posts: 6817 | Registered: May 2002
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Twilight:
The book is beautiful and weird and I'm not sure if I love it or am trapped in it.
I know what you mean - I read this some months ago and it keeps you interested and curious to know what happens next, but at the same time, it's an uneasy and not very comfortable sort of read.
I have a secondhand copy someone gave me, but am wavering between not wanting to pass it on but also not wanting to re-read it.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Cara
Shipmate
# 16966
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Posted
Hm, interesting. The Snow Child is in my to-read pile, now I may read it sooner, intrigued by these reviews. It was recommended to me by a woman browsing alongside me in a charity shop! And of course I knew about it...
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Pondering.
Posts: 898 | Registered: Feb 2012
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venbede
Shipmate
# 16669
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by leo:
A Perfectly Good Man by Patrick Gale - very topical as it starts with assisted suicide and then looks at its effects on various characters in a Cornish village, including the vicar who is accused of being an accomplice.
I thought I mentioned reading it last autumn, when I was having major difficulties and it was one thing that made me feel life was worth living.
I've just finished Notes from an Exhibition also by Gale, with some of the same characters. Also readable and humane but not in the same league as
I'm not sure it's exactly an assisted suicide though. Just one where the other person present, not aware of the impending suicide, doesn't call medical help but prays. The real meat of the book is the vicar and his family.
As this is in chapter one, this is not a spoiler. A Perfectly Good Man.
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Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.
Posts: 3201 | From: An historic market town nestling in the folds of Surrey's rolling North Downs, | Registered: Sep 2011
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venbede
Shipmate
# 16669
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by venbede:
I recently read Patrick Gale's A Perfectly Good Man.
I was in a seriously bad state at the time and found it riveting and deeply consoling - more than consoling, inspiring that life and God were worthwhile.
Gale is clearly sympathetic to religion but is better known as a gay writer (not that that ought to define him). The witness to the hope and healing that can be in religious faith and practice were all the more powerful to me coming from outside the church.
I thought I mentioned it before.
On a totally different level, I've been chuckling at Angela Thirkell's Wild Strawberries. Barbara Pym meets P G Wodehouse.
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Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.
Posts: 3201 | From: An historic market town nestling in the folds of Surrey's rolling North Downs, | Registered: Sep 2011
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Eigon
Shipmate
# 4917
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Posted
I've just finished Hunter's Moon, a Green Arrow graphic novel (well, collection of the original comics) which is the sequel to The Longbow Hunters.
To my delight, I found that these are the stories I was reading as they came out in the mid 80s. Some bits I had completely forgotten (or never saw - I don't think I got every issue of the comic), and other bits are vividly remembered, like Green Arrow beating up some muggers in a park and telling them they've restored his faith in human nature! Mike Grell, the author, will be at a convention in London next month, and I'm quite excited about the chance to go and see him!
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Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
Posts: 3710 | From: Hay-on-Wye, town of books | Registered: Aug 2003
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Adeodatus
Shipmate
# 4992
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Doc Tor:
quote:
Originally posted by Adeodatus:
I'm within 30 pages of finishing Ray Bradbury's Death is a Lonely Business, the first Bradbury I've ever read.
A strange, unsettling book, dripping with atmosphere. It's a stylish noir mystery, but with a generous dash of surrealism thrown in. Vivid characters, densely-painted locations and a level of creepiness that's made me averse to reading it at night.
Off to find some more by Mr Bradbury soon...
Something Wicked This Way Comes is probably my favouritist book ever. Just sayin'
I was just about to buy a Kindle copy of Something Wicked... this morning when I noticed Bradbury's short stories had been hugely discounted, so I bought those instead.
I read a couple this afternoon - The Night and Homecoming. My goodness, what that man could do with the English language!
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"What is broken, repair with gold."
Posts: 9779 | From: Manchester | Registered: Sep 2003
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venbede
Shipmate
# 16669
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Posted
After my comments on Patrick Gales’s A Perfectly Good Man I received a private message from a Shipmate who had put me on their Ignore List so I could not reply.
Trying to remain heavenly, I would say here so s/he can read it:
ONE A Perfectly Good Man is not about nor does it condone assisted suicide. As a trained volunteer at Cecily Sanders’ St Christopher’s Hospice, I do not support euthanasia.
TWO If my correspondent had been aware of my domestic arrangements (sharing my life and bed for the last thirty years with another man) I am sure my correspondent would have been more tactful in her/his comments on homosexuals (sic).
THREE If I’m looking for amusing pot boiling trash, I can imagine Ben Aaronovitch (who my correspondent suggested as preferable to Patrick Gale) would be a good idea. As it was I was undergoing an exceptionally nasty course of chemotherapy last autumn, during which reading A Perfectly Good Man gave me faith in the working of God’s grace, for which I am deeply thankful
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Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.
Posts: 3201 | From: An historic market town nestling in the folds of Surrey's rolling North Downs, | Registered: Sep 2011
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Jane R
Shipmate
# 331
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Posted
ArachnidinElmet: quote:
I've been reading The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez-Reverte. The plot revolves around the restoration of a 15th century Flemish painting of a chess game and a mystery involving the players portrayed - but then one of the researchers ends up dead. *gasp* Is it connected? Will our heroine survive to solve the puzzle? Will anybody give a damn by the time we find out? It's written in a consciously literary way, leaving no detail unwritten but telling you nothing. The characters, to a man, are brattish and a bit stupid. The painting barely gets a mention after the first half, the rest of the story unravels in all directions by the end leaving truck-size plot holes.
Oh, I'm glad it wasn't just me! I read it last year and was completely underwhelmed.
Mind you, I don't care for the consciously literary style at the best of times...
Rereading Lord of the Rings at the moment - ran out of new books to read and no time to go to the library.
Posts: 3958 | From: Jorvik | Registered: May 2001
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jane R:
...Rereading Lord of the Rings at the moment - ran out of new books to read and no time to go to the library.
NOOOO ![[Eek!]](eek.gif) I have nightmares like that.
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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by venbede:
After my comments on Patrick Gales’s A Perfectly Good Man I received a private message from a Shipmate who had put me on their Ignore List so I could not reply.
Trying to remain heavenly, I would say here so s/he can read it:
ONE A Perfectly Good Man is not about nor does it condone assisted suicide. As a trained volunteer at Cecily Sanders’ St Christopher’s Hospice, I do not support euthanasia.
TWO If my correspondent had been aware of my domestic arrangements (sharing my life and bed for the last thirty years with another man) I am sure my correspondent would have been more tactful in her/his comments on homosexuals (sic).
THREE If I’m looking for amusing pot boiling trash, I can imagine Ben Aaronovitch (who my correspondent suggested as preferable to Patrick Gale) would be a good idea. As it was I was undergoing an exceptionally nasty course of chemotherapy last autumn, during which reading A Perfectly Good Man gave me faith in the working of God’s grace, for which I am deeply thankful
Ship's policy on personal attacks extends to PMs as well as to what is posted in public.
venbede, if you consider the PM system is being abused, you are free to bring it to the attention of the Admins.
But I would ask that we don't discuss it here.
Firenze
Heaven Host
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Jane R
Shipmate
# 331
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Posted
ArachnidinElmet: quote:
NOOOO I have nightmares like that.
Nightmares about reading Lord of the Rings?! Surely you jest.
On the other hand, rereading it has reminded me why I found Aragorn so annoying. All this talk of women being treasure makes me want to slap him. At least Faramir talks to Eowyn like she's a real person.
Posts: 3958 | From: Jorvik | Registered: May 2001
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Kitten
Shipmate
# 1179
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Posted
I assumed that the nightmare related to running out of new books
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Maius intra qua extra
Never accept a ride from a stranger, unless they are in a big blue box
Posts: 2330 | From: Carmarthenshire | Registered: Aug 2001
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
Yes, sorry, I meant running out of new books. Thinking about having nothing to read makes me break out in a cold sweat. Luckily, a look around my living room (and bedroom, and spare room etc) shows that's unlikely to happen any time soon.
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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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Jane R
Shipmate
# 331
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Posted
Well, I thought that was what you meant... ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
I never said I'd run out of things to read. That's not going to happen here either - when I finish the new books I just reread some of my favourites from the rest of the collection (est. between 5 and 6 thousand).
I did enjoy reading Simon Morden's 'Arcanum' a couple of weeks ago, though. Great idea, brilliant world-building, good characters. Highly recommended to anyone who likes fantasy, and I'm not just saying this because he's a shipmate.
Posts: 3958 | From: Jorvik | Registered: May 2001
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
Hmm, that's interesting. That sounds like my Mother's habit of buying books little and often. She reads them more or less straight away and when she's done, rereads, buys a new one or steals mine.
I buy books less often in higher quantity, to be read at some point in the future, and consequently about 50% of my books are unread. The only exceptions are books in series bought as they come out. The book I'm reading at the moment (about a field archaeologist who can see ghostly images of the past on her digs) was bought about 15 years ago and has been sat on a shelf waiting to be read.
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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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Jane R
Shipmate
# 331
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Posted
I read *very fast* so a TBR pile doesn't last very long around here... Your book about the archaeologist who sees images of the past sounds interesting. Details, please!
Posts: 3958 | From: Jorvik | Registered: May 2001
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Sipech
Shipmate
# 16870
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Posted
Books are the only thing I receive at Christmas and birthday. Having received Wright's Paul and the Faithfulness of God at the start of November, I'm currently at about page 700, also known as "just short of half way".
My pile of unread books is currently stacked up on my floor and comes to half way up my thigh. Probably the most foreboding volume there is Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations.
Posts: 3791 | From: On the corporate ladder | Registered: Jan 2012
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I'm reading Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Love summer reading ![[Yipee]](graemlins/spin.gif)
