crazyhorse
At the Start
Would like to recommand Sarah stewart taylor and Sweeny St. George mysteries. Really good crime novels. does not fit at moment, to be honest.
Bar the Bull
At the Start
How did you come across Wagner's ring, Mel?
Spoons
At the Start
rorydelargy
At the Start
Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright
Gripping and fascinating. Many suprising facts and remarkable detail about the rise of Bin Laden and Zawahari. Without giving too much away, one comes across as perhaps a bit dim and another as truely sadistic
Beautifully written too. I always like a sparse, concise and clear prose style
Gripping and fascinating. Many suprising facts and remarkable detail about the rise of Bin Laden and Zawahari. Without giving too much away, one comes across as perhaps a bit dim and another as truely sadistic
Beautifully written too. I always like a sparse, concise and clear prose style
Shadow Leader
At the Start
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2003
- Messages
- 9,884
I forget half of which books I've read in recent months as they are so many!
Steven Taylor's The American Boy is well worth a read, as is a lot of his stuff. I recently read his The Barred Window and it was, as ever, superb. He writes crime unlike anyone else and there is always a strong tragic element in each novel. Although Archie keeps recommending his Lydmouth series I haven't gotten around to it yet as when I do I want to make sure I start at the beginning!
I've just finished Suzannah Dunn's The Queen of Subtleties which was ok but would have been far, far better without the modern phrases contained within, which drives me mad. Anne Boleyn would never have referred to her parents as "mum and dad" nor was she likely to have called Katherine of Aragon "Fat Cath", nor sworn at people to "f**k off"!!! I cannot abide modern phraseology being included in novels set in such times.
I've a pile of books about 5ft high to wade through as well - novels and non-fictional books alike. I've just picked up a couple of non fiction books on the subjects of Elizabeth I and Leicester, and another on Jane Boleyn, as well as one on the Moors Murders.
Tonight I ordered myself a book written by an old schoolfriend ~ she started writing at the age of about 12 or 13 and I used to sit next to her on the school bus reading the latest chapter of what she was writing each day! She now has a book in print called Mothernight and on reading the blurb I would have picked it up for myself anyway had I seen it. It'll be very interesting to see what I make of it.
Steven Taylor's The American Boy is well worth a read, as is a lot of his stuff. I recently read his The Barred Window and it was, as ever, superb. He writes crime unlike anyone else and there is always a strong tragic element in each novel. Although Archie keeps recommending his Lydmouth series I haven't gotten around to it yet as when I do I want to make sure I start at the beginning!
I've just finished Suzannah Dunn's The Queen of Subtleties which was ok but would have been far, far better without the modern phrases contained within, which drives me mad. Anne Boleyn would never have referred to her parents as "mum and dad" nor was she likely to have called Katherine of Aragon "Fat Cath", nor sworn at people to "f**k off"!!! I cannot abide modern phraseology being included in novels set in such times.
I've a pile of books about 5ft high to wade through as well - novels and non-fictional books alike. I've just picked up a couple of non fiction books on the subjects of Elizabeth I and Leicester, and another on Jane Boleyn, as well as one on the Moors Murders.
Tonight I ordered myself a book written by an old schoolfriend ~ she started writing at the age of about 12 or 13 and I used to sit next to her on the school bus reading the latest chapter of what she was writing each day! She now has a book in print called Mothernight and on reading the blurb I would have picked it up for myself anyway had I seen it. It'll be very interesting to see what I make of it.
Bar the Bull
At the Start
I have just finished Anne Enright's The Gathering.
It is a bag of shite.
It is a bag of shite.
Euronymous
Senior Jockey
I`m struggling on the reading front at the moment.
I need to discover an author with a nice back catalogue. My favourite authors are King, James Ellroy and Iain M. Banks and i ve read all their novels (although i`m still awaiting the latter`s new one to come out in paperback - i don`t do hardback)
I`m trying the Terry Pratchett Discworld books now but the first one aint rocking my world.
I need to discover an author with a nice back catalogue. My favourite authors are King, James Ellroy and Iain M. Banks and i ve read all their novels (although i`m still awaiting the latter`s new one to come out in paperback - i don`t do hardback)
I`m trying the Terry Pratchett Discworld books now but the first one aint rocking my world.
Me too recently Bar. Shite is too kind a word.
Just finished 'Great Hatred, Little Room' by Blair advisor Jonathon Powell. It traces the origins, execution and aftermath of the Good Friday Agreement. Its well written and gives a decent in room view of negotiations, but nothing seriously new and some dangerously loose extrapolations as to how the Irish Process could be applied elsewhere.
Reading it is like watching Red Rum and Crisp in 1973. You can never quite believe that he would get up, and its still hard to believe that they got the deal over the line.
Just finished 'Great Hatred, Little Room' by Blair advisor Jonathon Powell. It traces the origins, execution and aftermath of the Good Friday Agreement. Its well written and gives a decent in room view of negotiations, but nothing seriously new and some dangerously loose extrapolations as to how the Irish Process could be applied elsewhere.
Reading it is like watching Red Rum and Crisp in 1973. You can never quite believe that he would get up, and its still hard to believe that they got the deal over the line.
Bar the Bull
At the Start
On the flip side, I enjoyed Chesil Beach immensely.
simmo
Senior Jockey
Tried David Eddings? I recently re-read the Belgariad and found it just as enjoyable as when I first read it.
Or you could try Richard Laymon (who has been discussed on here before) if "splatterpunk" horror is your bag.
Euronymous
Senior Jockey
Currently reading Stephen Fry`s autobiography - Moab is my Washpot
The guy is a total legend and thus far it is a better read than his novels (which are ace themselves)
The guy is a total legend and thus far it is a better read than his novels (which are ace themselves)
Shadow Leader
At the Start
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2003
- Messages
- 9,884
I've read so many lately - good ones too - that at the moment I can't think of any in particular to single out (that'll be the painkillers kicking in again too)....
I read one by a new author to me - who is currently getting a lot of publicity - Karen Rose, and it was very good, not least if you like the archetypal serial killer plot. It was called "Die For Me" and despite having the stereotypical plot it involved a lot of mediaeval torture methods which was interesting!
I've read a few Lisa Gardners lately too and hers tend to vary from brilliance to mediocrity but the good ones are very good.
A new author, Julia Fox, has written a factual book about Jane Boleyn too but I thought it just didn't work. She tried to make it "easy to read" but writing it almost in the style of a novel and describing everything in detail whilst giving the characters feelings and emotions which just doesn't work in a non-fictional account of someone. The book was full of supposition ("Jane will have felt very proud to see this...."..."Jane will almost certainly have been there..."......"Jane will probably have known of this...." etc etc) and was basically a rehash of the Anne Boleyn/Katherine Howard story with the occasional "and Jane will more than likely have been present on this occasion" rather than it being a story about Jane herself. What really disappointed me though was that the blurb promised me it would show that the reputation of Jane Boleyn has been unfairly maligned by Tudor propaganda over the years yet it did no such thing. In actual fact, it seemed to me as though the author deliberately chose to leave out great chunks as her "proof"! I'm still firmly of the opinion that Jane (Lady Rochford if you prefer) was the nasty, manipulative, unfeeling shrew history paints her to be. She sent her own husband, George, to the scaffold with her tales that he was comitting incest with his sister Anne, for God's sake.
I read one by a new author to me - who is currently getting a lot of publicity - Karen Rose, and it was very good, not least if you like the archetypal serial killer plot. It was called "Die For Me" and despite having the stereotypical plot it involved a lot of mediaeval torture methods which was interesting!
I've read a few Lisa Gardners lately too and hers tend to vary from brilliance to mediocrity but the good ones are very good.
A new author, Julia Fox, has written a factual book about Jane Boleyn too but I thought it just didn't work. She tried to make it "easy to read" but writing it almost in the style of a novel and describing everything in detail whilst giving the characters feelings and emotions which just doesn't work in a non-fictional account of someone. The book was full of supposition ("Jane will have felt very proud to see this...."..."Jane will almost certainly have been there..."......"Jane will probably have known of this...." etc etc) and was basically a rehash of the Anne Boleyn/Katherine Howard story with the occasional "and Jane will more than likely have been present on this occasion" rather than it being a story about Jane herself. What really disappointed me though was that the blurb promised me it would show that the reputation of Jane Boleyn has been unfairly maligned by Tudor propaganda over the years yet it did no such thing. In actual fact, it seemed to me as though the author deliberately chose to leave out great chunks as her "proof"! I'm still firmly of the opinion that Jane (Lady Rochford if you prefer) was the nasty, manipulative, unfeeling shrew history paints her to be. She sent her own husband, George, to the scaffold with her tales that he was comitting incest with his sister Anne, for God's sake.
Shadow Leader
At the Start
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2003
- Messages
- 9,884
Three books I have read recently which were very good were Margaret Irwin's fictional series about Elizabeth I - Young Bess, Elizabeth, Captive Princess and Elizabeth annd the Prince of Spain. They were written back in the 1940s (the author died in 1969) and have recently been reprinted. I'd recommend them to people interested in this era and am going to buy her book "The Galliard" about the Earl of Bothwell and Mary Queen of Scots.
I'm also riveted by this period of English history - the characters are so extreme, the events and their relationships so gothic in their passionate violence!
Have you read Winston Graham's 'The Grove of Eagles', SL? It's about a young follower of Raleigh, and set in Cornwall and Spain. I enjoyed it a lot, I think you would - could bring it to eg Sandown if you are going to be there?
I'm if anything even more fascinated by the immediately previous period: the change from the Plantagenets to the Tudors. What an era for intrigue! I was set off years ago my Josephine Tey's novelised search into the conundrum of the Princes in the Tower "The Daughter of Time" - and I've been something of a Richardite ever since [my maternal roots being in Yorkshire helps no doubt!]. Ive got quite a few books written form both sides of the divide. On such mysterious sequences of events do the fates of nations hinge - and we still don't really know what happened! One thing which does come over strongly hnowever is that the Woodville clan were pretty evil - every bit as ambitious and ruthless as the Bolyens.
Another set of historical events and personalities of huge interest and high drama is the Tuscan court scenario in the C16th. There is a great book about the bloody feud between the Pazzis and the Medicis "April Blood" by Lauro Martines, see review here:
http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inke...9780195176094-3
Have you read Winston Graham's 'The Grove of Eagles', SL? It's about a young follower of Raleigh, and set in Cornwall and Spain. I enjoyed it a lot, I think you would - could bring it to eg Sandown if you are going to be there?
I'm if anything even more fascinated by the immediately previous period: the change from the Plantagenets to the Tudors. What an era for intrigue! I was set off years ago my Josephine Tey's novelised search into the conundrum of the Princes in the Tower "The Daughter of Time" - and I've been something of a Richardite ever since [my maternal roots being in Yorkshire helps no doubt!]. Ive got quite a few books written form both sides of the divide. On such mysterious sequences of events do the fates of nations hinge - and we still don't really know what happened! One thing which does come over strongly hnowever is that the Woodville clan were pretty evil - every bit as ambitious and ruthless as the Bolyens.
Another set of historical events and personalities of huge interest and high drama is the Tuscan court scenario in the C16th. There is a great book about the bloody feud between the Pazzis and the Medicis "April Blood" by Lauro Martines, see review here:
http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inke...9780195176094-3
trackside528
At the Start
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2006
- Messages
- 5,377
I'm finally getting around to reading Horsetrader about Robert Sangster and his bloodstock empire. Fascinating book, well-written and concise.
On the history front, I'm just finishing Malcolm X's autobiography. Whatever your views on the man, it is a fascinating (and enjoyable) read.
Just finished a book called "I Signed My Death Warrant- Michael Collins and The Treaty" by T. Ryle Dwyer. I've read a lot on the particular subject over the past few years (did a dissertation on it a while back!), but I would have to say this ranks near the bottom of the list. Quite poor I thought (and that's nothing to do with the opinions put forward). It's also very poorly edited, which is unforgivable really.
On the history front, I'm just finishing Malcolm X's autobiography. Whatever your views on the man, it is a fascinating (and enjoyable) read.
Just finished a book called "I Signed My Death Warrant- Michael Collins and The Treaty" by T. Ryle Dwyer. I've read a lot on the particular subject over the past few years (did a dissertation on it a while back!), but I would have to say this ranks near the bottom of the list. Quite poor I thought (and that's nothing to do with the opinions put forward). It's also very poorly edited, which is unforgivable really.
Harbinger
At the Start
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2004
- Messages
- 11,282
I've been looking for a copy of Horsetrader for a while but it's been out of print for ages. Is it back in or have you just had a copy for yonks?
Is Tim Pat Coogan's book considered the definitive one on Collins? Read it last summer; absolutely ridiculous level of detail in it at times.
Is Tim Pat Coogan's book considered the definitive one on Collins? Read it last summer; absolutely ridiculous level of detail in it at times.
trackside528
At the Start
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2006
- Messages
- 5,377
I got it second-hand from Amazon not too long ago (maybe a year), Gareth.
Tim Pat Coogan's book is probably considered the definitive Collins book for most people, though there is a definite pro-Collins slant. Ironically, Coogan was editor of the pro-Dev Irish Press, only to become a staunch Collins man.
I've also started reading a decent book I found called "The High Rollers of the Irish Turf" by Raymond Smith. Has chapters on all the big-hitters and a few interesting stories as well!
Tim Pat Coogan's book is probably considered the definitive Collins book for most people, though there is a definite pro-Collins slant. Ironically, Coogan was editor of the pro-Dev Irish Press, only to become a staunch Collins man.
I've also started reading a decent book I found called "The High Rollers of the Irish Turf" by Raymond Smith. Has chapters on all the big-hitters and a few interesting stories as well!