Best reads - Club Together Book Club?
Comments
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If your into mad fiction, have a look at the Nightshade series by Simon R Green.
Humour, exciting one of those reads you can't put down.
Basically it's about a private detective that works in a world beneath London where it's always 3am. There are some crazy characters in the books.
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Might give that a go, GC.
If you are interested in slightly off centre fiction then I can heartily recommend the books written by Jasper Fforde, particularly the "Thursday"series. Start with the "Eyre Affair". Lots of literary references in the book, but you'd expect that as Thursday Next is a literary detective, protecting literature in a parallel universe centred around Swindon. Quite madcap as you might say.
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G C. Have you read any of the P.C. Peter Grant series by Ben Aaronovitch. They are about a probationary constable in the Met. who is also a trainee wizard!! They are all based round London and you last sentence sums these books up too.
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Just had an email from the library to say that the latest in Phil Rickman's "Merrily Watkins" series is waiting on the shelf for me. Just too late for our trip to the Hereford area, where it's set, last week, but just in time for our next trip away!
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Cheers NTH,
I will track those down.
Another Simon Green series is called Secret Histories.
Brilliant reads about Eddy Drood and his family of peace keeping "Droods" between the good and evil.
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Thanks, GC. I'll keep a look out for Simon Green books.
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A heads up to anyone who likes detective novels and have not yet read any of Stuart McBride's DS Logan McRae series, based in Aberdeen. The first one, Cold Granite, is available at the moment on Amazon Kindle for 0.99p, a real bargain!!
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Goldie, I can't remember how grizzly that one was, but I love the humour in them. Do try the next but one in the series, Dark Blood, or the short stories that can be found on Kindle, which continue the stories.
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Picked up 2 books in library by Noah Boyd simply because of this on the front cover ‘Move over Jack Reacher, here comes the Bricklayer’ - James Patterson. Main character is an ex FBI agent working for the FBI when persuaded to do so but on his own terms. Titles – The Bricklayer & Last Chance to Die. I find the style of writing easy to read & The Bricklayer so far is for me a good read.
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Picked up one of Ian Mortimer's "Time Travellers guide..." books today from the library.
Find them an interesting read as I like History. Have to wait until I finish a couple of others though.
Camilleri's Montalbano one was OK, not as good as some of his others.
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I don't usually do science fiction. But I've just finished "Good morning, midnight" by Lily Brookes-Dalton which I picked up at random from the library before coming away.
It's set some time in the future and alternates between a lone astronomer whose chosen to remain on his own in an Arctic observation station and a spacecraft returning from Jupiter which has lost all contact with earth.
Great story telling and use of language and with a stunning ending which I'd defy anyone to guess.
A great read if you're lookingvfor something different!
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I bought a new book to take away with us last Saturday - "Magpie Murders" by Anthony Horowitz and really enjoyed it (reading it straight through in two sittings). It's a typical 1950's village detective story nestled inside a modern day mystery.
Not too heavy, but the sort of book you want to get to the end to find out the answers, but also don't want to finish.
P.S. When I say "bought a book" - I downloaded to my Kindle.
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Just finished Another One Goes Tonight written by Peter Lovesey. A good detective story based around Bath. I shall probably try & pick up others in the Peter Diamond series as this kept me guessing for most of the book but have 2 David Baldacci’s waiting for me just now.
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Just starting to re read all of the Tom Sharp books, they are still good. Having worked in a FE college Wilt (there was a film version) is my favourite, so true to life.
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I've just started Stephen Baxter's "Massacre of Mankind". It's billed as the sequel to HG Wells' War of the Worlds (approved by the Wells estate). So I went back and read that again. I read all those HG Wells books when I was much younger but I'd forgotten just how good they were and what a vivid imagination he had writing in the latter part of the 19th century. I'm really looking forward to this follow up!
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We were in a bookshop in Bakewell recently and the owner told us that she had overheard a conversation between 2 customers. One enquired of the other if she had a recommendation for her nephew who was staying with her. The enquired of one replied that she thought "Blott on the Landscape" to be perfect for him. Are you sure, asked the aunt, as the nephew is only 8y.o.? Oh yes, said the other, he probably knows all the swear words by now and it will make him laugh!
So there you have it, Tom Sharp is recommended reading for the under 10 year olds.
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I think I have read most of Tom Sharp's books and thought them really amusing. Funny thing was I loaned one to a colleague and he just didn't get them! Just shows I have a weird sense of humour!!!
Currently reading Ken Clarke's "Kind of Blue" not funny but surprisingly informative.
David
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I've successfully got through my political memoir phase with no ill effects! I'm now reading Lakeland, A Personal Journey by Hunter Davies, an attractive looking book with illustrations and an entertaining read if you like the Lake District.
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Just finished the latest Philip Kerr book starring his anti-Nazi German cop from the 1930's, Bernie Gunther. Another well researched book that combines historical characters from the era with a credible story line. Well let's face it, you couldn't make up what really went on in that decade! It's called Prussian Blue if anyone is interested.
Waiting on the library to contact me with the latest travelogue from Stuart Macconie. I like his dry wit and power of observation. He's completed the march that the Jarrow Boys went on as it's a big anniversary of it. If you've not read any of his books then I can recommend them, Pies and Prejudice being a particular favourite
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I've just started reading Sam Bourne's latest novel "To Kill The President".
It's about a group of US government officials grappling with the problem of how to deal with the election of a maverick US president who has a track record of groping female officials and firing anyone who doesn't agree with him and seems intent on launching a nuclear attack on North Korea.
It's quite an entertaining read, but I do think the story line's a bit far fetched - I mean, it just couldn't possibly happen in real life, could it?!!
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Some of my favourites
C J Sansom - Shardlake series as already mentioned
Susanna Gregory - Two series
- Matthew Bartholomew, 14th Century Cambridge teacher of medicine and detective.
- Thomas Challoner, Detective and Spy in Charles II restoration England.
Rory Clements - John Shakespeare series set in Elizabethan England, teacher and spy for Walsingham and fictional brother of William Shakespeare..
Kerry Greenwood - Phryne Fisher series of detective novels, set in 1920's Australia, rich socialite and PI. More lighthearted than the ones above.
And I am reading at the moment George RR Martin's A Storm of Swords Vol 1 Steel and Snow, not a sequel to his A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) but an overlap, same characters though.
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