gardengirl

Thank you Vodkafan, for the messages and also the links, the last link was a great review wasn't it?Wish that I could write reviews like that!Anyway, I'm sure you will like the book. Thanks for the info, I shall try to get his other book and look forward to reading it. You ask if I like old Sci-Fi/fantasy, and yes I do, but I also like up to date writing too. I just think that there are such good writers from some years ago that are out of print or just difficult to find and it is a shame.With Sci-Fi/fantasy, I only like certain things though, no 5 headed aliens or anyone with ridiculous other worldly names like zechxxxon of the first order of Dekklinia [you know what I mean.]No sorcerers, warlocks, demons,and not too much alien [or Earthly technology terms] as in 'he aligned the steel trechin and turned the pilkpin a touch to the left, before debrilling the nebulizer'.It has also got to be well written, which knocks out a lot of SF writing [and actually, other genres too.]

Hello Vodkafan, well, in that case you got a real bargain! Hope that you enjoy it as much as I did, we are all different of course. Did you find he has written other things by the way?

I don't know why [as zombies are so ridiculous really] but they ARE scary. Think it's because it's humans changed into something sub Human maybe, and not fast , sexy, or furry [vampires and wolves!] However, can't seem to get myself to either watch these films or read the books, think it may be a scare too many for me. My daughter urged me to read a zombie Jane Austin pastiche, and yes it was quite funny [but I only read a few pages.]

Yes MYTHAGO WOOD, BY ROBERT HOLDSTOCK< wonderful stuff. What about the SPIDER WORLD series [COLIN WILSON?] Read them a few years ago, well written and so gripping.Also some of BRIAN ALDISS, one of my fave SCI-FI writers [and he lived in my village, so have to give him a plug.] HOTHOUSE is my choice by him.

Hello, what about Robert Holdstock [at least I think it was his book] called MYTHAGO WOOD? A good few years since I read it but found it un put-downable.

Has anyone ever read the book DREAM SCIENCE? I think the author was from USA and was called either THOMAS or ROBERT PALMER. I can't find my paperback copy to check on this, but the book is tremendous! The best Sci Fi or fantasy book I have ever read. So well written, a page turner and yet more than that, disturbing [not that there are gory or horrible bits because there aren't] but disturbing in a 'imagine if that really happened to me' kind of way.The hero , an ordinary business man, just finds himself stepping out of his own reality and into others, all as far as he can tell in the USA. Things get weirder and weirder, and you are so gripped by his experiences.I don't know if he ever wrote another book, but if he didn't, then his one book is worth 20 of some SF writers.

Hello Chesilbeach, I was very interested in your synopsis and thoughts about this book........ I haven't read it or any of her books did she write RESTORATION? I will now seek out her books to read.

yes, Cuppycakes, I think you may well be right about Thomas Cromwell! He didn't get where he got for being a lovely person, Tudor England [including the Court] was an edgy unsafe place all round [understatement of the year!]I think a lot of people also confuse him with Oliver Cromwell [ different century.]I see that you are from USA, are a lot of people interested in English history there?I live in England, so naturally am, but actually find American history fascinating too. We were talking of Jean Plaidy, didn't she also write under the name of Georgette Heyer as well as Victoria Holt? Giving my age away here!My grown up daughter still loves her Georgette Heyer books and when she was 18 and managed to get into an Oxford College, she took those books with her as comfort books.

I have always liked the books, but the tv series [and dvd's of course] are also wonderful and that rarely happens does it? Great casting, really brings the books alive to see Sharpe in action! Very good writing, with a light touch and able to touch on the futility of war, as well as the bravery and small acts of kindness amongst the carnage. Also shows the Army class system [or rather, rank ] possibly the best historical tv [apart from I, Claudius ] that I have seen.Again, with I , Claudius, the tv lived up to Robert Graves' book in my opinion.

I don't think that I can add much to this thread, as most of it has already been said but....... I loved it. Loved everything about it, the best historical fiction ever [for me.]I didn't find it confusing, or heavy [well, the actual BOOK was heavy as I was given the gift in hardback!]It just made me want to keep on reading until I got to the end, and didn't skip anything as the actual writing was so good. I want to re-read it now, but will buy it for my Kindle I think, as I don't like hardbacks anymore.It is in paperback of course, now. I will read Bring Up The Bodies in due course.

Hello all, yes I like Norah Lofts too, but haven't read anything of hers for years. Nice to know they are still in print, and although I can't recall titles after all these years, did she write 'The House At Old Vine' ? Then there was another with Vine in the title and then 'The House At Sunset' a trilogy and VERY good, but I may be mixing up authors.

Hi Vimes and Cuppycakes, yes, I love historical stuff, as long as it's well written [although you can apply that to any genre I guess.]When I was a teenager [oh so long ago!] I read nothing else BUT Jean Plaidy, is she still in print?Wonderful stuff, light-ish but all the history is there and well told.I also used to read Norah Lofts another good writer from way back, but historical stuff doesn't really date does it [or does it?]Have you read Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel?Tremendous!

If you haven't already read THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE OF HAROLD FRY by Rachel Joyce then put it on your reading list now. It's brilliant, and is in turns funny, heart wrenching and nostalgic.Anyone who is of a certain age should identify with HAROLD as he goes about his journey.The author has written a lot for radio, mainly plays, but this is her first novel, and I can't wait for her second.I think it will appeal to both men and women, put particularly slightly older readers.I read it twice on my Kindle, to get bits that I missed first time around. Harold Fry goes out one morning to post a letter, but simply keeps on walking, from Devon [where he and his wife lead a rather cold marriage because of past heartbreak] to the North of England. His thoughts, and the people he encounters on the way, make up the content of the book.

Hello Rowhedge, I am new member too. I love books so thought I would try and find an on-line group. I am reading a book by C J SANSOM just now called Winter IN MADRID which is so well written and enthralling, about the Spanish Civil War. Couldn't live without books, but reading them more and more on my Kindle these days.

KEEP THE ASPIDISTRA FLYING is my favourite Orwell book. Last year I was attending a choral concert at a church near me when a friend pointed out his grave in the churchyard, and I never knew!he was a great author, and because so much read [or had to be read in schools] of his books, this put a lot of young people off reading his books for pleasure.Certainly there will be a lot in them that young people do not recognise[but then that applies to any historical or SF book too!]

I heard this book being discussed on radio4 recently, the reviewers all like it. It sounds very unusual and worth reading, was it written for children /older children ? Not that it really matters as countless books written for children are wonderful books for anyone to read, I just wondered.

You certainly make a good case for reading this book, so it has gone on my TBR list, can I get it on Kindle?I had heard of though not read, the poem, isn't it chilling?

Just like some other readers, I need something light, and very non-harrowing as an antidote. So I turn to the short pieces written by Alan Coren, funny and surreal, I have been known to burst into laughter reading them on buses.

Hello again Vimes, I see that you are reading a TONY HILLERMAN book just now. Is he the native American writer? If so, then I do remember the books, set around Flagstaff USA. Is that particular book very good?

Hello Vimes, I was given a copy of THE SILVER PIGS some years ago, and being a hardback book not easy to tote about, so took a while to sit down and read it, but it was so very good and worth the effort.The author slips in so much historical detail that you just soak it in without feeling back in school.I do think that some of the other books are as good and some definately not.I have put some of her later books on my wish list, what would you reccommend?