Books To Recommend ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ardross
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:lol: I also gave up on Portrait of a Lady, in spite of so many people advising me that they found it 'wonderful'. You're right, Ardross - James may have been a darling of the time, but is so verbose that after you've ploughed through 100 pages, you've only met three of the characters of the book, and had every physical and mental nuance described to you in excruciating detail. I believe his conceit was 'I set the scene' but, really, I can imagine each vein in each leaf in every shade of green on each tree if you just say 'woodlands', Mr James! :lol:
 
I am enjoying The Pickwick Papers a lot - you can tell it is pre Victorian. There is quite a good deal of getting drunk, behaviour Victorians would have regarded as improper and a wonderful legal subplot involving a breach of promise case - which showed me that although the law may have changed - lawyers haven't .
 
I'm currently re-writing a book i first wrote in 1999. It's called 'The Philosophy of Life by Phil Daley'. It's basically a jaundiced take on Bill Bryson's 'A brief history of everything', and is a 200 page rant on political correctness, schools, religion, love, horse racing, lap dancers and more. I will post it here when it is complete, although if you are easily offended, i wouldn't recommend it.

I've just read the Curious Incident of the Dog in the night time, i believe it won the Whitbread a year or two ago. Very good book, i'd recommend it to all.
 
I loved the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time as well although I cried throughout a lot of it, I found it very moving.
 
James Herbert has a new book out tomorrow, The Secret of Crickley Hall. There's 55% off at the moment if buying from Amazon too.

The blurb:

The Caleighs have had a terrible year... They need time and space, while they await the news they dread. Gabe has brought his wife, Eve, and daughters, Loren and Cally, down to Devon, to the peaceful seaside village of Hollow Bay. He can work and Eve and the kids can have some peace and quiet and perhaps they can try, as a family, to come to terms with what’s happened to them...

Crickley Hall is an unusually large house on the outskirts of the village at the bottom of Devil's Cleave, a massive tree-lined gorge - the stuff of local legend. A river flows past the front garden. It's perfect for them... if it a bit gloomy. And Chester, their dog, seems really spooked at being away from home. And old houses do make sounds. And it's constantly cold. And even though they shut the cellar door every night, it’s always open again in morning…
 
Originally posted by Triptych@Oct 4 2006, 06:42 PM
James Herbert has a new book out tomorrow, The Secret of Crickley Hall. There's 55% off at the moment if buying from Amazon too.

The blurb:

The Caleighs have had a terrible year... They need time and space, while they await the news they dread. Gabe has brought his wife, Eve, and daughters, Loren and Cally, down to Devon, to the peaceful seaside village of Hollow Bay. He can work and Eve and the kids can have some peace and quiet and perhaps they can try, as a family, to come to terms with what’s happened to them...

Crickley Hall is an unusually large house on the outskirts of the village at the bottom of Devil's Cleave, a massive tree-lined gorge - the stuff of local legend. A river flows past the front garden. It's perfect for them... if it a bit gloomy. And Chester, their dog, seems really spooked at being away from home. And old houses do make sounds. And it's constantly cold. And even though they shut the cellar door every night, it’s always open again in morning…
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It sounds great, I will definitely be reading that one. The Magic Cottage is my favourite of his. I love scary house stories... :o
 
Just finished Irvine Welsh's latest: The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs. A little disappointing from the great man - not up to his standards of yesteryear.
 
Irvine Welsh is a cock, although I did quite like the short story where he had Madonna and Kylie (or similar) sitting around discussing how much they would like to give one to Wee Jimmy fae Leith.

I am currently reading The Stranger by Dean Koontz. It is very good but does suffer slightly from the Koontz curse of containing large quantities of information which does not assist the story in any way. His editor should be sacked.
 
Has anyone read The Lovely Bones? I'm struggling through it at the moment - it's distinctly average, very slow and not giving me much of an incentive to keep on reading! I really can't put down a book half read though no matter how boring I find it which is a very annoying habit....
 
Originally posted by Shadow Leader@Oct 9 2006, 09:13 PM
I really can't put down a book half read though no matter how boring I find it which is a very annoying habit....
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I used to be the same, then I realised that life is too short not to cut losses when you are digging a hole. Don't waste your time. Bin it - you are probably missing out on some other excellent read.
 
I was reminded of a very good book I did for A level English (all those years ago) about the British Raj, called Staying On by Paul Scott - a sequel to the Jewel in The Crown series. Has anyone else read it? I really really enjoyed it.
 
Originally posted by Shadow Leader@Oct 9 2006, 09:13 PM
Has anyone read The Lovely Bones? I'm struggling through it at the moment - it's distinctly average, very slow and not giving me much of an incentive to keep on reading!
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My missus swears by it. I suspect that, like the tripe she watches on television, An Capall's version of the truth is closer to the mark.

He said - "Over written, self indulgent pseudo therapeutic Californian twaddle"

:lol: :lol: :lol:
 
Yes, Staying On follows on from Paul Scott's Raj Quartet - Volume 1 is Jewel in the Crown, 2 is The Day of the Scorpion, 3 is The Towers of Silence and 4 is A Division of the Spoils.

Staying On, which features "Tusker" and Lucy Smalley (minor characters in the Raj Quartet), won Scott the Booker Prize.

In 1980 Granada produced a film for television of Staying On in which Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson played the Smalleys (Brief Encounter revisited!) and as well as following jinnyj's recommendation of the books I urge you to see the film if you ever get an opportunity, if only to enjoy the superb acting of Celia and Trev.
 
Originally posted by simmo@Oct 10 2006, 10:39 AM
I suspect that, like the tripe she watches on television, An Capall's version of the truth is closer to the mark.

He said - "Over written, self indulgent pseudo therapeutic Californian twaddle"

:lol: :lol: :lol:
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I'll second AC's view,most definitely! It was a good enough concept but it just went nowhere - a third of the way through you find yourself wishing you hadn't started it then it gets even more boring!

Was the book discussed on here before? I vaguely seem to recall something baout it but couldn't find anything (now you're going to refer me to page 2 of this topic I'm sure.... :confused: )
 
Bought a remaindered (snigger) copy of 'The Mummy Congress' at the 99p shop yesterday. It's factual: all about different countries' methods of mummification, who found what where, who got mummified in a certain style, etc. Nice photos and cheerfully written.
 
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