timebug

I still prefer the 70s version by a mile. We had the same problem with last years 'Poldark' adaptation. Having seen the original version with Robin Ellis, we found the new one too rushed at eight episodes.The earlier version took 12 episodes to cover the same ground,and having read the books, were more rounded out and fulfilling. Horses for courses I suppose; a certain group cannot watch anything too long as their sparrow brains can't handle it! A long,well crafted story, be it War and Peace or Poldark, deserves a little time getting to know the small details that make the book such a captivating read in the first place (I.M.O) I agree that the latest War and Peace was visually stunning, but to me, still lacking.

The older version is complete to watch on YouTube.I started watching it that way,and then about four episodes in, the DVD box set appeared in our local shop, so my elder son got it me for my birthday!

I avoided it for years, for all the reasons already mentioned. When I finally got round to reading it, I loved it! Well written characters with realistic (for the period) dialogue, and on heck of a plot. Complex, yes,but not mind blowingly so. I have read it three times now,and find something new in it at each reading. Must disagree about the 2016 TV version though; I thought it was dreadful. Six episodes was way too short to do the book any kind of justice. So I got hold of the older series from the seventies, twenty episodes long. Much better! Anthony Hopking gave his all in that version as Pierre (Yes, I know that in the novel Pierre is a giant of a man,and Hopkins to be polite, ...isn't!) But the seventies version filled in so many of the gaps that (to me) were blindingly apparent in the newer version.

Within thirty pages or so of the final book of the seven, and I have to say I really enjoyed them! I agree that Tom Barnaby is not quite the same man as portrayed by John Nettles,but is close enough to satisfy my picky tastes. Troy as noted, is a very different character in the books. The annoying thing is, having (almost) read the whole series,I cannot find the book that failed to impress a few years ago! It is obviously one of these, but maybe I was in a different place then, and just not attuned to the writer or the writing?

I have read The Hobbit about five times,and LOTR over forty times. The LOTR films were 'okay' and only lost it when Jackson wandered away from the book and inserted his own inane meanderings instead. I watched the first of the Hobbit trilogy with growing disbelief and great pain spreding from my head to my backside. Unbelievably bad tosh, dragged out to painful length. I was more or less conned into watching the second part and I lost the will to live.I will never watch the final part, and will never be made to re-watch any of the first two,when they become a regular 'repeat spot' on various TV channels. (This has already started to happen,by the way!) Great Book (LOTR) , not a bad childrens book (Hobbit); Okay films (LOTR), DREADFUL films (Hobbit). Thats where I stand on this!

I recently started the seven Inspector Barnaby mysteries by Caroline Graham. The TV series 'Midsomer Murders' were originally based on these books. I was given one, years ago by a friend,and although I read it, it failed to impress me! I am currently on the fourth book of the seven, reading them in publication order, and so far am enjoying them. And so far, none of them have been the one I previously read, which I cannot remember the title of! Barnaby is pretty much as John Nettles played him in the long running TV series. His assistant, Gavin Troy is very different. On TV Troy was a bit of a harmless bumbler,who could never quite keep up with his superior.In the books, he is a sexist,racist,homophobic young man with an arrogant attitude to almost everyone he encounters. And a quick tempered redhead to boot. So far so good.I know I still have the book I have already read still to come,but I am enjoying these for what they are which is a gentle(ish) set of mysteries, with a logical and reasoned conclusion. If you want heart pounding action and car chases,and ginfights,forget these! Otherwise, good basic detective work, skilfully plotted. In other words, quite a good read!

I have mentioned elsewhere on this forum,that I once made it to the last eighty pages or so of James Joyce' 'Ulysses' and suddenly realised that I no longer cared what happened to anyone in it! Nor have I ever returned to it,although I often read a few lines of 'Finnegans Wake' if I am feeling especially suicidal!

I too have just finished reading the fifth book,and eagerly await the next!

I also spotted loads of music references, ranging from the 'in your face' variety to very subtle indeed. Still chuckling at the 'forks and spades and other implements of destruction line in book four!

I have the first five on my Sony Reader and am currently about sixty pages into the first one.And loving it! Just dry,downbeat humour, and a good basic 'whodunnit' plot with interesting characters and a well loved setting! Am anticipating a good few hours worth of enjoyment from these!

I saw the film first,and enjoyed it. Not what I was expecting to be honest. Then I got hold of the (e)book. Loved that too,even though a few minor things had been changed for the film,as per ususal from Hollywood! Will re-read this sometime fairly soon, and will probably rewatch the film afterwards!

I gave Gravity's Rainbow a shot,but about fifty pages in, it just defeated me. Millions rate the book so it must have been a problem I had, no complaint;just did not 'get on' with it.

Probably (I don't keep count!) around two dozen, so far.

How about the Stainless Steel Rat series by Harry Harrison,for a non-military sci-fi series? Military involment IS there but kept to a minimum really!

I loved 'High Fidelity' but have failed to get along with any other Nick Hornby book! Tried a few,and especially 'Fever Pitch', as I was once a football fan, but it left me cold!

Loved it! KIng comes in for his share of criticism, but as one of the biggest selling authors, that must go with the territory? I have only found a couple in his vast output to be 'poor' (I.M.O) because,probably they did not live up to whatever expectations I may have had, prior to reading!

The HItchHikers Guide to The Galaxy series, by Douglas Adams, was great. I love the radio version,adore the books;the TV version was okay for what it was, on a limited budget. Hated the film,and gave up on the Eoin Colfe one, as it was puerile gibberish. He may be a 'fan' of the originals, but he can't write them like Douglas Adams could (In fact, no one could!) The Dirk Gently books are superb, different to the HHGTTG series, but with the same 'hand on the tiller' as it were, you know you are in good hands! Sadly missed, a giant of a man (physically) and intellectually too, for the type of humour that his works engendered!

His series include the 'Gregory Sallust set,as I mentioned,which cover the main events of World War 2,and the 'Roger Brook' series,which are excellent,and Brook is a 'secret agent' working for Prime Minister Pitt, against the Revolutionary French, and later, Napoleon . The 'Duc De Richleau' books cover spy/thriller stuff,and include three of the black magic series.As I wrote, his views are right wing and he was definitely a 'man of his class,and age' which means he comes over as sexist,misoginistic,arrogant and almost a fascist in many of his views.But as I also said, IF you can get past all that rubbish, he also crafts a well put together yarn, most of the time! Worth checking out for his stories,but not a nice chap by any standards that we would use now!

I have posted elsewhere on this board,about the 'Roger Brook' series of historical adventures by Dennis Wheatley. He was a very right wing writer, and his books reflected this. So to modern readers, many of his characters come across as politically incorrect dinosaurs. All well and good.But behind that stuff, if you can ignore it, lie some very well crafted novels.I also enjoyed the 'Gregory Sallust' series, set during WW2 as Sallust manages to insert himself into virtually every major event of that conflict as Churchill's 'top agent'! I have just re-reread a favourite of his, 'They Found Atlantis'. A group of idle rich playboys and girls, find themselves backing a marine trip to find the lost continent of Atlantis. Bad people plot to steal a fortune from the group, by devious underhand plotting, and all is set well for that as being the 'main' plot of the novel.But no, following all that, the group actually find Atlantis after being stranded on the sea bed at a depth of over a mile! The Atlaneans are basically a group of sixties hippies,advocating peace and love, but there lies a steely determination behind the hippy-dippy facade, to keep their race and land 'clean'. Not very fascist that, then? But there IS a resolution to the various entanglements,and the people you care about most, survive the book intact! Always liked it when I was a teen, and still do as I approach seventy! Unfortunately, I followed this with one I had never read before, another sea going yarn called 'Uncharted Seas'. And for the first time ever, I got to almost halfway through, before abandoning it completely. Utter drivel. A very weak plot, peopled with way over the top characters,that after a few chapters, you find you could not care less about, or indeed,the circumstances they find that they are in. I rarely give up on a book, probably only done this about a dozen times (in a life of reading well over ten thousand books) so this one (I.M.O) has to be a REAL stinker. I still advise checking out Wheatley, if you have never done so, as a writer of (mainly) good tales. But avoid that one at all costs!

The Watcher by Charles MacLean. First published 1982 in USA, 1983 in UK. Recently republished, and every bit as good as it was back then!

Try 'The Watcher' by Charles MacLean. The cover blurb describes it as 'horror' but whilst it contains many horrible incidents, it is so much more than a 'horror story'. Recently republished,I first read it in 1983 when it came out in the U.K. and am finding it every bit as engrossing and entertaining now,as I did back then!

A subject I have discussed with friends,many times! I have a collection of 'Real Books', numbering around two thousand;it used to be greater but I had to ruthlessly thin it out a few years back, for space reasons! And I have my ereader, which makes carrying around a full series of works by an author, so simple! Also the number of free ebooks online, that have passed the copyright restrictions, is amazing. I am currently using ebook versions of classics, to fill gaps in my 'self education' of the books that I SHOULD have read before, but never got around to. And still loving the look and feel of a 'real' book, when I get one, which is something that if you experience it, will never leave you! So, the best of both worlds, if you pace yourself and do not get tangled up in pointless regrets or dislike of one format or the other. I just love reading, always have and always will. The format is irrelevant to me, so long as I enjoy the book I am reading!

Just finished the first 24 ebook versions of Alan Hunters series of George Gently novels. I loved them. Easy paced cerebral stories, along the lines of Holmes or Morse, rather than a 'cop book' with all that modern policing stories entail. Starting in, I believe 1955 Hunter wrote on average, one per year. The stories themselves seem to be set a couple of years before the publication date, so the first one (Pub 1955) seems to occupy a period in the earlier fifties, around 1952 at a guess. No sidekick named Bacchus, no car chases, gunfights, or explicit violence/sex/excess in general! I eagerly await the release of the remaining 22 books in epub format. Wonderful, old fashioned stuff (but NOT old and creaky, let me add!) for a Gentle reading experience (Pun half intended, maybe!)

I read the Godfather when it came out and loved it.Have re-read it a few times over the years since,and it still packs a punch.

Greetings! Pull up a chair, grab a book and enjoy!