Books To Recommend ?

Bourne Books.
I read several Bourne books in the 70's and still have some in hardback that were bought as presents. I gave up a some stage because I found them becoming to contrived. This year I bought paperpack of a 'new ' Bourne to read on a aeroplane. After about half an hour I put it in the pocket in front of of me and never bothered to pickup. Absolute drivel! I then noticed it was Robert Ludlum's Bourne but written by iirc Erik Van Lustbaden. Silly me, didn't spot that one.
 
clivex said:
Read it last year trackside. Fabulous read. John edwards came out as a monster and even obama seemed a bit too cool and calculating. Clinton pieces were remarkable but the genuine respect between hilary and obama was eye catching. Palin is ridiculous of course but perhaps that was expected.

Much the same as you. Their politics are fascinating

There were good ipointers in the book as to why hilary has now blossomed so impressively. She's a seriously talented lady

A great read
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The profile of Elizabeth Edwards was really interesting; had heard things before but the way he presents her really makes you sit up and think. Totally bizarre situation anyway. It really is the type of book you would go through in a few days Gal. Great stuff if you're into politics.

Dan Balz's (his knowledge of American campaigns is unreal by the way) "Battle for America 2008" is a slightly more nuanced look at the 2008 campaign. Well worth reading as well.

George Bush's book is due to come out the week before the mid-terms and has been one of the major talking points of the election season in the States. Details have been remarkably tight-lipped but given Karl Rove was heavily involved I'd imagine it will be a fairly staunch defence of his record and probably have less of an impact than many of the Republicans fear. I think the Democrats are heading for big trouble in November ~ al they can hope for in clinging onto control of the Senate.
 
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Whipped through THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy (Picador) which was given to me by a forumite who claimed it was the best book he'd ever read (and this from someone who's also read The Wind in the Willows). Plenty of post-apocalyptic descriptions of endlessly burnt places and people BUT, sorry to say, I was irritated throughout by McCarthy's insistence on not putting quotation marks around the main characters' conversations (okay, it's really only man and boy, but it's still irritatingly unnecessary), and the partial excision of apostrophes, which wont annoy everyone but cant please some of us. Especially if one's wont is cant and as I cant stand cant I wont abide it. There was a lot of rather wilfully overwrought phrasing which rendered some sentences virtually unintelligble and, be warned - unless you've got a Masters in Eng. Lit. you'll need a very good dictionary. I'm still trying to find out what kerfs are.

Fine if you like (here I have to say 'in my opinion', which clearly this is) often over-written, constantly quirkily-phrased end-of-the-world reads - and, frankly, you can skip some of the Man and Boy's Own Adventures as an awful lot is signalled so far out, that by the time you reach the point of action, you're ready to pass it by and skip 20 pages to the next depressing scenario.
 
I loved The Road. Read it soon after seeing the film and couldn't put it down. Then a friend phoned me to tell me to read it as she couldn't put it down, either. Bit of a Marmite book/author, as is the film [lent it to be daughter and her husband..why on earth did you inflict us with this, they said afterwards; I guess I just like to feel miserable...]
 
The Help by Kathryn Stockett. A great story set in Mississippi during the late 1950s / early '60s, told in the first person by three different women. I found it an unusual experience because the author has been able to give each woman her own voice - not just a story to tell. As I read I was actually able to "hear" each woman's voice.

The mystery of what one of the maids did to her ex-employer is kept right up to the end and you are able then to understand why the black maids, who get together to contribute to a book about their lives and treatment by their white employers, manage to avoid any retribution.

I thought at first that it might be a bit "preachy" on the subject of prejudice and human rights, but Stockett tells a good story and manages to convey several different layers of discrimination within the same society by making one sympathise with each of the narrators, who are all distinctly different, both in circumstances and personality.

I really enjoyed this book, particularly the way she handles such a "heavy" topic without making light of it. This book makes one empathise quite deeply with each of its characters and the most fascinating part for me was to be able to "hear" each woman's voice and thereby get more involved in her character and story.
 
I picked up a book called The Family Tree when I was on holiday [forgot to take a book so bought one from a church that was selling paperbacks for 50 pence]. Have to say I really enjoyed it, it was all about family politics [tell me about it!!], genetics, angel delight and fray bentos meat pies. Really missed the characters when I finished reading it. Replaced it with a Rosamund Pilcher book about poverty stricken gentile folk who can still afford a housekeeper[?]. Struggling to finish that one. Funny, the books we read when on holiday.
 
I'm currently reading the first in Anne Zouroudi's Greek Detective series, The Messenger of Athens. A well written crime novel set on a Greek island, it paints a picture of life far removed from what the average tourist experiences. There's a whole series of them so I'm looking forward to reading the rest.
 
Always up for a good crime book, Trips, so might see if our local bookseller has that one in. Read one by Stella Rimington (ex-head of MI5) and rather disappointed with the rather flat writing. Ditto Ruth Rendell - 'In the Flesh' - failed to grip me, so perhaps I'm a bit of an adrenalin junkie when it comes to crime novels. I like Gerritson, Fairstein, and some Cornwell, although she's beginning to feel a bit formulaic. Currently cantering easily through 'Hide' by Lisa Gardner, which is whisking along with lots of questions posed and not yet answered, so I'm hoping for an interesting ending.
 
Lisa Gardner is actually pretty good for her twists in the tale although after one or two of her books you can start to second guess them! I have read all of hers though and they're a good, easy, enjoyable read. I've been drawn in by Michael Connolly's Hieronymous Bosch series lately after a colleague repeatedly told me I should read them all. As he was spot on about what a good book One Day was and kept badgering about that, I picked up a Harry Bosch book. I'm on the third on the bounce now. Another colleague has ordered me to read The Time Traveller's Wife so it's in the pile, I was too scared of her bollocking for not having read it already not to buy it and read it! Another crime series well worth reading are Jeffrey Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme series, starting with The Bone Collector which was made into a film some 10 years or so ago.
 
Thanks for that, Shadz. I'm writing down these suggestions, ready to hit up Waterstone's or WH Smiff maybe tomorrow a.m.! I started The Bone Collector then thought, no, seen the film twice, so it won't contain any real thrills, but I've read something else by Deaver (can't remember what) and it was good. Yes, I do like Gardner - particularly because the interchanges between the main characters seem believable. I find that in my dotage I don't want to be challenged any more - read enough in my 20s and 30s of worthy tomes like 'Social Change and the City' (non-fiction - hardly any fiction then) - just enjoy an easy read. I still get aerated by sloppy editing, but what can you do?
 
trackside528 said:
Just finished reading Mark Halperin's Race of a Lifetime about the 2008 American election. The type of book that you really can't put down; really details the gritty behind the scenes stuff (some of the stuff on Palin is really interesting in particular). Almost more about the campaign operations than the candidates themselves.

I found it a brilliant read - but then I am an unashamed American political junkie!
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Really enjoying this.
 
I imagine that, because campaigns are so heavily funded (or never make any progress), it's interesting to know who supports who, why, what the back interests are that they want promoted or the ones they want tapped on the head if 'their' candidate gets in. I should think that working as a campaigner for any candidate is exhausting stuff, particularly at the higher levels where there's interface with the sponsors. Don't know why candidates just don't wear their logos, like jockeys do, to show where their future affiliations might lie!
 
World War Z by Max Brooks
Amazing!!

Is going to be made into a film with a certain Mr Pitt starring.
 
Galileo said:
Really enjoying this.
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Amazing to think that the 2012 GOP efforts are already well underway in Iowa and New Hampshire. Most of the leading contenders have already been to Iowa more than once (Palin up there this weekend at a dinner) showing their faces and courting activists.

It's always amazed me that, for a country so vast and multi-racial etc, Iowa and New Hampshire - both of which heavily emphasize ground-level, front room politics in virtually exclusively white states - go so far to determining the presidency. For all that Obama's campaign united so many strands of Americans it's easy to forget that the whole thing was based on throwing the kitchen sink at Iowa and stopping Clinton. If he hadn't won there he was essentially cooked.

And yet I still love it...
 
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I'm reading it, Aldaniti. I'm about 1/3 through it and it's proving charming in SF's usual self-deprecating yet luvvie way.

Michael Caine's bio is quite a good read, despite the fact that everyone from The Queen to the milkman is described as "a very dear friend".
 
I've just found out that Fry has two AB's! one which tells you about his first twenty years "Moab is my washpot" pub 2000 & another one which is more recent the fry chronicles 2010,

I assume you have the latest one GH?
 
For any golf fans out there I have juts finished reading 'The Phantom of the Open' which is basically an AB of Maurice Flitcroft.

To enlighten you,Maurice Flitcroft was just a 'normal' everyday man until he started watching golf on the TV in the early 70's,at this time he was in his 40's and had never even swung a club before!! But he decided that he could basically 'compete' and with it being 'The Open' he could play with the worlds best and give them a run for their money. The story follow's about how he continually tried to qualify for the Open and had various battles with the R & A in his attempts to do so.

An interesting and funny story and worth a read if you are interested in golf or one mans struggle to succeed.
 
You are safe there, was put off her books years ago after watching that showjumping drama made from one of her books, can't remember what it was called now but it has Michael praed in it, only watched it as I had a crush on him at the time :lol:
 
Really enjoyed Trespass by Rose Tremain - think I may well have to get a few more by her.
 
Lots of black humour in a thriller by an American author I hadn't previously heard of - Carl Hiaasen. The book I borrowed from our communal library is a double: Tourist Season and Double Whammy. I'm 3/4 the way through Tourist Season, and Hiaasen shows a nice line in wry relationships of all kinds, from unrequited lust to very assorted eco-fundies feeding loathed Floridians to their own alligators.
 
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