chesilbeach Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 Hi Mac, I noticed you're reading a Tim Winton book at the moment - have you read any others of his? I've only heard of him recently, but I've had an eye on Breath since I heard him talking about it on the radio. Are you enjoying Dirt Music? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted May 3, 2009 Author Share Posted May 3, 2009 Hi Mac, I noticed you're reading a Tim Winton book at the moment - have you read any others of his? I've only heard of him recently, but I've had an eye on Breath since I heard him talking about it on the radio. Are you enjoying Dirt Music? I'm actually really struggling with it at the moment. It's written similarly to Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha, where none of the speech is in quote marks and it messes with my mojo, man! I've never read any of his before, but this book was given to me by a friend who is convinced I would love it. I might disappoint her. But, saying that, I think I've lost my mojo over these last 24 hours, dammit. I'm adrift on an ocean of booklessness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 Ok, thanks for that. I might just get it from the library then, so if I don't like it, at least it hasn't cost me anything. Have you been to the lost mojo support group for cookies yet? You never know, it might help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted May 3, 2009 Author Share Posted May 3, 2009 I have, thank you. I might fall back on the trusty old 'Read-a-Lee-Child-book' to get me back on track. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted May 10, 2009 Author Share Posted May 10, 2009 Bad Luck And Trouble by Lee Child So there I was, adrift and becalmed on an ocean of mojolessness, when I turned to an old staple to get me back on track and, boy, did it work! Once again, Lee Child's hero, Jack Reacher, has kept me gripped from start to finish. Okay, so it's not brain science or rocket surgery, there are clich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted May 10, 2009 Share Posted May 10, 2009 The question is now, what are you going to read next, Mac? Need to keep that mojo going Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted May 10, 2009 Author Share Posted May 10, 2009 Long Lost by Harlan Coben. My favourite... Well, one of my favourite authors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted May 10, 2009 Share Posted May 10, 2009 Sounds like an excellent idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charm Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 Glad you've got your mojo back Mac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freewheeling Andy Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 I popped in too late for this too be meaningful (sorry about that), but I wanted to say that I thought Dirt Music was great. I loved it. I read one other Tim Winton book, called "The Riders", I think, which wasn't as good but was very weird and had fantastic paranoid atmosphere about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted May 13, 2009 Author Share Posted May 13, 2009 I'll definitely have another go, then, Andy. I ought to anyway, because I don't want to disappoint my friend, Maz. I need to get over my thing about the lack of quotation marks during the speech... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weave Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 Hey Mac ~ With regards to Tim Winton, I have 'Dirt Music' on my TBR pile (I will get to it eventually ~ famous last words ). I read 'Cloudstreet', which is a brilliant read, a really feel good kind of book, 'That Eye, the Sky', which was good but not as good as 'Cloudstreet' and finally 'The Riders', which I found to be a really strange book but a good read Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Hey Mac... just wanted to say I love reading this thread... you've immaculate taste in books, and like others have said, you've a talent for reviewing that is directly related to my increasing wishlist! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanC_84 Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 I'll definitely have another go, then, Andy. I ought to anyway, because I don't want to disappoint my friend, Maz. I need to get over my thing about the lack of quotation marks during the speech... FWIW my girlfriend is a high school English teacher and she taught 'Dirt Music' last semester and did not like it at all, which is unusual for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted May 14, 2009 Author Share Posted May 14, 2009 Hey Mac... just wanted to say I love reading this thread... you've immaculate taste in books, and like others have said, you've a talent for reviewing that is directly related to my increasing wishlist! Thanks, Roxi. I'm finding that my bank balance has suffered inordinately since joining this forum, and I hope that I am not responsible for negatively impacting on yours too much, appreciating your status as 'student'! With regards to Tim Winton, I have 'Dirt Music' on my TBR pile (I will get to it eventually ~ famous last words ). I read 'Cloudstreet', which is a brilliant read, a really feel good kind of book, 'That Eye, the Sky', which was good but not as good as 'Cloudstreet' and finally 'The Riders', which I found to be a really strange book but a good read I'll give it another go, Paula, I promise. I was talking about it to Maz last night in the boozer and she was most insistent that I'd enjoy it. However... FWIW my girlfriend is a high school English teacher and she taught 'Dirt Music' last semester and did not like it at all, which is unusual for her. ...this doesn't give me much hope. Thanks for the posts, guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weave Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Your reviews are ace to read Mac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted May 14, 2009 Author Share Posted May 14, 2009 Long Lost by Harlan Coben Myron Bolitar hasn't heard from Terese Collins since their torrid affair ended ten years ago, so her desperate phone call from Paris catches him completely off guard. In a shattering admission, Terese reveals the tragic story behind her disappearance - her struggles to get pregnant, the greatest moment of her life when her baby was born...and the fatal accident that robbed her of it all: her marriage, her happiness and her beloved only daughter. Now a suspect in the murder of her ex-husband in Paris, Terese has nowhere else to turn for help. Myron is compelled to go to her. But then a startling piece of evidenceturns the entire case upside down, laying bare Terese's long-buried family secrets and the very real possibility that her daughter may still be alive. Caught in a foreign landscape where nothing is as it seems, Myron must tear the city apart - and eventually the globe. He must fight for answers to unfathomable questions and, ultimately, uncover a sinister plot with shocking global implications. I have waxed rhapsodic about this guy so many times, I almost bore myself. But here I go again. From the very beginning, I was completely hooked into the novel, reeled in and bashed over the head with a stout rock. The skill Coben has is making the reader feel a kinship with his flawed hero. Not only is the prose snappy, witty and fluid, it is extremely thought-provoking. At least, it is for me, anyway. I'm pondering a lot at the moment over my preference with genre and style and am leaning more towards this theory. The heroes that I enjoy reading about are flawed. They get things wrong, they have unusual emotional foibles, they are eccentric. However, they always do the right thing, regardless of the impact it has upon themselves. In a nutshell, these are the guys I aspire to be like. I fully appreciate that the reason I am what I am (Christ, I'm beginning to sound like Ethel bloody Merman!) stems largely from episodes in my life, things that have made me someone who prefers to catch rather than jump - a fixer, if you like - and this makes me identify with the characters in these books. I'm often wondering how I would react in these situations. I hope I never have to find out. So. This novel is once again a true page-turner. Utterly gripping, thought-provoking, exciting and, indeed, quite moving in places. I cannot recommend Harlan Coben highly enough. If you want to give him a go, read Deal Breaker first. Fall in love with the characters and watch them grow. It's a wonderful thing. 9.5/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanC_84 Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Thanks for that review, sounds like a book I might like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwemad Posted May 16, 2009 Share Posted May 16, 2009 Long Lost by Harlan Coben 9.5/10 I think I might like this one Mac, the reason I love reading your thread is that each time you write a review you offer us a little bit of 'you'. Your thoughts read as open and honest and just.... so.... soulful. It's like I'm sitting in a country pub with a glass of wine, feet curled up under me in front of an open fire listening to you talk. Boring it most definitely isn't. Loving it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charm Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 I've heard Harlan Coben was good and have a couple of his on my shelves, including Deal Breaker. They've always been pushed down the list a bit though but your review Mac is fantastic and I will probably push Mr Coben's books up to the top of the pile somewhat. Thanks for this Mac. Excellent review! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo-Bridge Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 Have you read Tell No One? Thats the best Harlan Coben! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted May 23, 2009 Author Share Posted May 23, 2009 Friend of the Devil by Peter Robinson The victim is no older than Banks's own daughter. Just 19, she's found raped and strangled in the dark tangle of cobbled alleyways they call The Maze. There's no shortage of suspects, and Banks finds himself missing DI Annie Cabbot. Their personal problems aside, he could do with her sharp instints on the case. But Annie has troubles of her own. On loan to the Eastern Area, she's been called to investigate the cold-blooded killing of a woman in a wheelchair. On th face of it, the two deaths have nothing in common. But as Annie digs deeper, she finds something disturbingly familiar in the case. Perhaps she and Banks will find themselves working together again a lot sooner than expected... This is the first book I've read by this chap. A colleague at work gave it to me as I finished Long Lost, telling me that I would enjoy it. I did. It's certainly a superior crime novel. It's not his first by a long shot - I think there's another sixteen or so published prior to this novel, which I'm quite pleased about as his writing is sharp, pacey and easy to read. The characters are well rounded and fleshed out (probably because he's worked with them for years) and likeable. The romantic in me identifies with the hero, Banks (we like the same things) and the plot twisted in ways that I found unpredictable, which is a good thing, eh? I always like finding authors I've never even heard of that have written a whole slew of books full of interesting characters, and particularly those that have a series following them. So I'm somewhat pleased about this. My colleague also gave me a Wallander novel to get my teeth into, but she's only gone and given me the fifth one in the series, hasn't she! I'll have to go and get a whole new bunch of books from Waterstone's now. Sigh. 7/10. Certainly an enjoyable crime thriller to try out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissy Posted May 23, 2009 Share Posted May 23, 2009 I'm a Peter Robinson fan, and I am glad to say that he is consistent in his output - I haven't read a duff novel from him yet! There is the Alan Banks series, but I think there two non-series books, although one 'Caedmon's Song' does link in with the one you've just read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted May 31, 2009 Author Share Posted May 31, 2009 Nothing To Lose - Lee Child Two small towns in Colorado: Hope and Despair. Between them, nothing but twelve miles of empty rod. Jack Reacher can't find a ride, so he walks. All he wants is a cup of coffee. What he gets are four redneck deputies, a vagrancy charge and a trip back to the line. Mistake. They're picking on the wrong guy. Reacher is a big man, and he's in shape. No job, no address, no baggage. Nothing, except bloody-minded curiosity. What are the secrets the locals seem so determined to hide? You see, the blurb does nothing for me at all. It's macho and cheesy and I just go "Bleugh!". However, the book is, as usual, magic reading. Jack Reacher once again stumbles into a town where some bad people are doing things that shouldn't be done and he sorts them out. The thing with Lee Child is that he throws into the mix an element of everyman philosophy: something to make you think about; to question. It's this skill that I really like in his writing. There's something about it that, when I'm up and down like a bride's nightie (like I am, currently, for some reason), I can very easily slip into this other place and find refuge and comfort there. Hmmm...I'm beginning to wonder if I find something of a father-figure in Jack Reacher...you see, I try and be the solid, dependable, safe and practical man who does good things, probably because my own father cleared off when I was very young. My mother remarried an amazing chap who is all of this, so maybe I equate Reacher with my step-father? I need to take a pill and stop being so intro-bloody-spective! Anyway. Another totally absorbing, rip-roaring page turner from Mr Child. 8/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucybird Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 Hia Mac, just thought I'd pop in to tell you I bought Norwegian Wood the other day. Haven't started it yet though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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