Books Are Gems

I have just finsihed Peter Robinson´s last book, and love all his Banks- books (have I mentioned that ?), but have to say his latest (think its called "Piece of my heart") is one of the best ever! It helps to know the whole lot though, as Banks personality and character is developing, but guess it could be read without knowing.

great book with one crime taking place in 1969 and one today, with old the music and athmosphere from thirty-seven years ago, well worth reading!
 
Mel - yes, I'm afraid teecher's sentence construksion gave entirely the wrong impression there. A 9.5 on the Droll-o-meter to you.
 
I could not read past about page 4 of LOTR so no !

Feeling a tad philistine at the moment so might have another go at Les Miserables ( the book not the ghastly musical )
 
Well, teh last book I read right through was dot.homme (that I got free with Cosmo this month) so Im feeling extremely philistine - might have to dig out Moll Flanders again or have another go at getting further than the cover of Persuasion....
 
Having missed out on a lot of the Beat novels at the appropriate time (apart from Kerouac's 'Desolation Angels'), I'm just embarking on 'Naked Lunch' by William Burroughs. The book has a supporting text by JG Ballard, who I admired for a couple of the books of his I read (or perhaps more attempted to read), so I'll see if it's as controversial now as it was when first brought out. I believe there's quite a lot of, er, unusual sex and the influence of various substances, but then, I am living in Brighton... norty
 
The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks. Heavy going to be honest, it`s the first non-Culture SF book of his i`ve read and it`s taking a bit of getting used to.
 
On another thread there was some discussion about "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats". That book is included in a package with nine other books of poetry (Plath, Hughes, Larkin, WH.Auden, Siegfried Sassoon, Heaney, Wendy Cope and others) in this month's 'Book People' catalogue.

All ten books are available for the princely some of £9.99. If anyone is interested just PM me.
 
The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory and enjoying it. Before that it was Nicci French's Catch Me When I Fall, another good & scary offering from them which I thought was an improvement on their last couple of books. I read Andrew Taylor's A Stain On The Silence recently too and it was excellent, couldn't put it down.
 
I picked it up in th charity shop and thought I would give it a go. It's a bit more highbrow next with Bleak House.
 
Originally posted by PDJ@Apr 25 2007, 06:49 PM
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson. OK I suppose but I have read much better.
Click to expand...
Robert Louis Stevenson suffers from people thinking his works are for kids only . Treasure Island is a brilliant book.
 
Probably because one generally reads them when a child, Ardross! Although I tackled War and Peace at 12, and quite enjoyed it, and didn't read that many 'children's' books at all. Couldn't stand 'Little Women' and demanded 'Jock of the Bushveld' instead - tremendous stuff, though sad in parts. The description of Jock's fight with the baboon is fairly horrific.
 
I couldn't stick Little Women either Kri ~ it was Riders, Rivals and Polo for me at the age of about 13! That was after I'd done the entire Flowers In The Attic and Heaven series' at the age of about 11/12! :D
 
I'm beginning to think that horsey girls read different types of books to non-horseys, Shadz. My friends were buying 'Honey' magazine (I expect long since defunct) with all the usual teenagey-girly-wirly stuff, and in spite of being in the middle of Africa, I was avidly devouring the British horsey scene courtesy of Horse & Hound! Ah, those wonderful days of Sheila Wilcox eventing, Pat Smythe jumping, and Lester Piggott as my bedroom pin-up... :D
 
Just finished The Boleyn Inheritance and it was superb. I've enjoyed Philippa Gregory's previous Tudor novels but this one stands alone. It weaves together the tragic stories of the three women - Katherine Howard, Jane Boleyn & Anne of Cleves - brilliantly and gives a completely different insight into their lives as opposed to the traditional historical point of view. You actually end up feeling desperately sorry for Katherine & Jane despite their deeds and actions & it is very well written as well as historically as accurate as possible although it did irritate slightly to read of "Anne Boleyn's head lying on the block" which it didn't ~ Henry employed a French swordsman to behead her & she died kneeling upright with the executioner swinging the sword through the air to behead her rather having her head laid against the block. But then I'm picky over tiny details like that!!!
 
My brother has just pointed out that one of Gregory's previous novels The Other Boleyn Girl (IMO the next best after this one!) has been adapted as a film. Well, he actually said "there's some film coming out soon called Boleyn something-or-other; it's got Natalie Portman in it.."!! On looking the cast looks pretty good - Natalie as Anne; Scarlet Johanssen as Mary Boleyn; Eric Bana as Harry Tudor & Kristin Scott Thomas as Elizabeth Boleyn. The book was very good but a lot of it was poetic licence and it was romanticised quite a lot - apparently David Starkey has been critical of the film which makes it more interesting IMO as I think Starkey is very good & I love his books and programmes.
 
Back
Top