Finished The Quiet American. It took me a while as I've not been well and have had the final touch-ups on Mrs. Bleads novel to do. Very much enjoyed it as i was in Vietnam in December so many of the locations were very vivid to me but it's still a very interesting book and has made me want to read more Greene in the future.
Now onto Mist Over Pendle by Robert Neill which was a fall-back book as I've not had time to go shopping and found it in a box in the loft. It's actually a lot better than I was expecting. Falls somewhere between Thomas Hardy and Walter Scott so far.
Finished The Quiet American. It took me a while as I've not been well and have had the final touch-ups on Mrs. Bleads novel to do. Very much enjoyed it as i was in Vietnam in December so many of the locations were very vivid to me but it's still a very interesting book and has made me want to read more Greene in the future.
I've read and enjoyed quite a few Graham Greene novels over the years. I like the descriptive writing, flawed characters, and Catholic angst. My favourite is a lot closer to home - Brighton Rock.
I'm about to start two new books which will probably not be as well written as Greene's!
The Expats by Chris Pavone has been sitting on my Kindle for quite a while and has had some positive reviews on here lately.
Me. I loved it! A real character piece. I adore her books anyway, I liked this one because there is no mystery element really, but the characterisation is superb.
well when i posted last night i was just starting it and was thinking hmmm not sure if this is for me. Seemed quite slow and i thought it was just going to be like snippets of several people, but now im about half way through and quite enjoying it! Glad i persevered.
well when i posted last night i was just starting it and was thinking hmmm not sure if this is for me. Seemed quite slow and i thought it was just going to be like snippets of several people, but now im about half way through and quite enjoying it! Glad i persevered.
Have you got hard copy or Kindle? If you have it on Kindle she'll sign it for you with authorgraph, I got mine done its pretty cool
Just finished reading 'Standing in Another Man's Grave' by Ian Rankin. Really enjoyed it - Rankin clearly back on form.
Tried to get back into 'The Complaints', but still not enjoying it. Malcolm Fox comes across as too dull a character, but the book has (surprisingly for Rankin) tons and tons of unnecessary exposition.
Currently reading 'The Blade Itself', part of the Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy after my dad recommended it to me.
Really enjoying it so far. Inquisitor Glokta is such a fascinating and brilliant character. You know when you have those days when you bash your knee or stub a toe and the pain hits you? Well after reading the sort of pain Glokta goes through daily you kind of chuckle to yourself and say to yourself it's not bad. Love the sarcasm he comes out with as well.
About halfway through the book and I am looking forward to the other two books.
Will send you to authograph - choose which of her books you want signing then send a short message so she knows who to sign it to. Then authorgraph will take you to the instruction page on how to set up your kindle to receive it - easy enough.
Then sometime later you will get a document on your kindle
ETA: She was very excited about doing it, she did mine really quickly! I often annoy her on Twitter so she knew who I was
Finished "London Falling" and "Nightmare" both brilliant. Probably both in the "Urban fantasy" category of books but really so much more than that.
If you havent read the Jack Nightingale books by Stephen Leather and you like a page turning load of fun then you should. And Paul Cornell's "London Falling" is a superb thriller come supernatural fantasy come mystery - absolutely brilliant. And he tells me the sequel is out in December, can't wait!
So now reading:
Print book : What Comes Next by John Katzenbach
Kindle book : The Last Girl by Jane Casey
Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. I've read almost every book available on Tudor England, from Jean Plaidy to David Starkey, and these two books are the first ones that have really drawn me in. Good story for non-historians also. I'll probably follow them up with Matthew Shardlake's series.
Train spotting by Irvine Welsh, I'm enjoying it so far, it's really quite humorous. I'm also finding it a bit disturbing, I'd hate to find myself living life as they do.
I was in two minds about Train Spotting. It was a good read, but it was SO horrible and disturbing at times (the bed-sheet incident, for example) that I can't say I really enjoyed it. I'm sure people do live like that, though, I'm sorry for them.
I've finished The Expats by Chris Pavone and have written about it on the other thread. I'm never sure whether to write an opinion on one, or the other, or both threads.
I'm about to start 600 Hours of Edward by Craig Lancaster. Edward is 39 years old, lives alone and has Asperger's Syndrome.
Finished me copy of Bear Grylls’ autobiography – was an interesting read, he’s an inspiring chap and totally one of me heroes! Always the optimist!
Now on to reading: Around The World In 80 Days – Michael Palin (A.K.A The dude from Monty Python……)
This is me fourth book in less than three months!! (I usually only read about one a year) I’m starting to feel like a nerd….. I’m on course to win me bet though – a friend said I wouldn’t be able to read 12 books in 12 months. So far I’m proving her wrong. On course to win £30 here! I never back down from a challenge
Just finished Black Dogs by Ian McEwan. In a way, it's a good compliment to Life of Pi, which I read just prior. The book deals with a son-in-law who is writing a memoir about the life of his mother-in-law and her estrangement from her husband, which came about due to their inability to reconcile their beliefs: one based on the spiritual, the other based on the rational. The title of the book comes from a frightening event that happened to the mother-in-law while on her honeymoon in the south of France, an event that seems to have caused or represented the split between the two newly-weds, at least in the mind of the mother-in-law; she sees this event as the beginning of her "conversion". In many ways, some readers will claim that not much is happening in this book, but I actually enjoy this character study that delves into the minds and feelings of the subjects, and at the same time brings up the debate between the empirical and the metaphysical. I really got into the characters and also the events surrounding them.
Also just finished The Odyssey by Homer. I preferred this to The Iliad, which I had read a few weeks beforehand, but both are still classics. Not sure why it has taken me so long to have picked up the books to read them. Both are fascinating reads, a bit simplistic in nature for today, but at the same time you can see why they've survived as essential reading material for well over two-thousand years. The books are full of emotion and spirit... and blood.
Just started Midnight Cowboy by James Leo Herlihy. I love this film, seen it a few times in my life, but have never read the book. Well, now I can.
Also I'm about to start reading The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins, where he puts forward the case for Evolution. I loved his book The Selfish Gene, which was quite accessible (although I have studied biology and chemistry in college when I was young, so it wasn't as if I was new to the subject), and also found a lot in his follow-up The Extended Phenotype, which filled in a lot of detail touched by in The Selfish Gene, but was a bit less accessible for the layperson (but not beyond). I suspect, however, that The Greatest Show on Earth is going to be more reader-friendly like his The Selfish Gene.
I am reading Whispers Underground by Ben Aaronovitch - love these books, Rivers of London was awesome and they are only getting better!
On Kindle I am reading "The Anniversary Man" by RJ Ellory. A proper "serial killer thriller" with hidden depths. Ellory never writes a straightforward tale.
Comments
Now onto Mist Over Pendle by Robert Neill which was a fall-back book as I've not had time to go shopping and found it in a box in the loft. It's actually a lot better than I was expecting. Falls somewhere between Thomas Hardy and Walter Scott so far.
I've read and enjoyed quite a few Graham Greene novels over the years. I like the descriptive writing, flawed characters, and Catholic angst. My favourite is a lot closer to home - Brighton Rock.
I'm about to start two new books which will probably not be as well written as Greene's!
The Expats by Chris Pavone has been sitting on my Kindle for quite a while and has had some positive reviews on here lately.
My new audiobook is The Help by Kathryn Stockett.
well when i posted last night i was just starting it and was thinking hmmm not sure if this is for me. Seemed quite slow and i thought it was just going to be like snippets of several people, but now im about half way through and quite enjoying it! Glad i persevered.
Have you got hard copy or Kindle? If you have it on Kindle she'll sign it for you with authorgraph, I got mine done its pretty cool
Glad you are enjoying it.
Not really sure about Gone Girl yet but am only on page 39 so will keep going.
Also just finished the third book in the Linx series which was excellent although:
Tried to get back into 'The Complaints', but still not enjoying it. Malcolm Fox comes across as too dull a character, but the book has (surprisingly for Rankin) tons and tons of unnecessary exposition.
Really enjoying it so far. Inquisitor Glokta is such a fascinating and brilliant character. You know when you have those days when you bash your knee or stub a toe and the pain hits you? Well after reading the sort of pain Glokta goes through daily you kind of chuckle to yourself and say to yourself it's not bad. Love the sarcasm he comes out with as well.
About halfway through the book and I am looking forward to the other two books.
Hi Lizzy,
Re: Elizabeth Haynes- Human Remains Not started it yet, but I have it on my Kindle How do I get it signed ?
Thanks x
Go to this page on her website and follow the instructions..
http://www.elizabeth-haynes.com/669/pssst-want-me-to-sign-your-kindle/
Will send you to authograph - choose which of her books you want signing then send a short message so she knows who to sign it to. Then authorgraph will take you to the instruction page on how to set up your kindle to receive it - easy enough.
Then sometime later you will get a document on your kindle
ETA: She was very excited about doing it, she did mine really quickly! I often annoy her on Twitter so she knew who I was
If you havent read the Jack Nightingale books by Stephen Leather and you like a page turning load of fun then you should. And Paul Cornell's "London Falling" is a superb thriller come supernatural fantasy come mystery - absolutely brilliant. And he tells me the sequel is out in December, can't wait!
So now reading:
Print book : What Comes Next by John Katzenbach
Kindle book : The Last Girl by Jane Casey
I was in two minds about Train Spotting. It was a good read, but it was SO horrible and disturbing at times (the bed-sheet incident, for example) that I can't say I really enjoyed it. I'm sure people do live like that, though, I'm sorry for them.
Misquoting Jesus: the story behind who changed the Bible and why ~ Bart D. Ehrman
I'm about to start 600 Hours of Edward by Craig Lancaster. Edward is 39 years old, lives alone and has Asperger's Syndrome.
Going to start Best Kept Secret by Jeffrey Archer next.
Now on to reading: Around The World In 80 Days – Michael Palin (A.K.A The dude from Monty Python……)
This is me fourth book in less than three months!! (I usually only read about one a year) I’m starting to feel like a nerd….. I’m on course to win me bet though – a friend said I wouldn’t be able to read 12 books in 12 months. So far I’m proving her wrong. On course to win £30 here! I never back down from a challenge
Also just finished The Odyssey by Homer. I preferred this to The Iliad, which I had read a few weeks beforehand, but both are still classics. Not sure why it has taken me so long to have picked up the books to read them. Both are fascinating reads, a bit simplistic in nature for today, but at the same time you can see why they've survived as essential reading material for well over two-thousand years. The books are full of emotion and spirit... and blood.
Just started Midnight Cowboy by James Leo Herlihy. I love this film, seen it a few times in my life, but have never read the book. Well, now I can.
Also I'm about to start reading The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins, where he puts forward the case for Evolution. I loved his book The Selfish Gene, which was quite accessible (although I have studied biology and chemistry in college when I was young, so it wasn't as if I was new to the subject), and also found a lot in his follow-up The Extended Phenotype, which filled in a lot of detail touched by in The Selfish Gene, but was a bit less accessible for the layperson (but not beyond). I suspect, however, that The Greatest Show on Earth is going to be more reader-friendly like his The Selfish Gene.
On Kindle I am reading "The Anniversary Man" by RJ Ellory. A proper "serial killer thriller" with hidden depths. Ellory never writes a straightforward tale.