Kell
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Posts posted by Kell
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Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell - Faves of mine! I've saved the entire Edge Chronicles for Xan to enjoy when he gets a little older. No disappointments there.
Kelley Armstrong - Love her, love her, love her! Both her supernatural and non-supes series are great.
Simon Scarrow - I've only read his Romans series, but I'm, like, 10 books in now and they've all been absolutely fabulous! I have his Napoleani wars series waiting to be read...
Stuart Macbride - Hasn't hit a duff note yet. I even liked his sci-fi crime novel and his American crime novella.
Christopher Brookmyre - Yes, I like some more than others, but not a bad one among them.
Terry Pratchett - Out of more than 30 Discworld novels (almost 40 if you count his young adult ones), I can only name 3 I didn't like and one further I didn't think much of but didn't hate. (Colour of Magic, Light Fantastic and Eric = didn't like / Unseen Academicals = not keen). The rest are all marvellous (to varying degrees, but all pretty fab!).
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I used to read every book I started, even if I hated it. Then I realised there wasn't enough time to read all the books I WOULD love, even without wasting time on those I don't enjoy, and decided to give books 100 pages to impress me. Now it's reduced to 50 at most, but if a book isn't grabbing me within a few chapters, it usually gets dumped pretty quickly. Occasionally I'll give a book a little longer if thre are little flashes, but if it isn't kept up, they get dumped.
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I've read P&P&Z (which I've previously mentioned) and also Mr Darcy; Vampire (which I rather liked), I Am Scrooge; A Zombie Story For Christmas (which was OK), and Queen Victoria; Demon Hunter (which was excellent!). I definitely plan on reading more of the classic/supes mash-ups as on the whole they've been pretty decent. I also read Murder at Mansfield Park, which was very cleverly done and despite completely subverting all the characters we know and love from Austen's classic, it actually worked very well.
I've not read any of Gregory Maguire's books (yet), but he pretty much does the same thing - looking at classic, well-loved tales from another perspective, and they've been highly popular.
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I can't even see the question anywhere on the page, so I can't even begin to try and work anything out - LOL!
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I don't remember a time when I didn't read mysteries. I probably started off with Famous Five stuff when I was very young and moved onto Sherlock Holmes by the time I was in my early teens, along with other crime stuff...
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How to Make an American Quilt by Whitney Otto:
Interweaves the stories of the members of a California women's quilting group. From grief to stolen passion, youth to age, scandal to solace, the book portrays the nature of women, and the power of love and friendship over half a century.
A Stitch in Time by Penelope Lively:
Maria comes to spend the summer holidays with her family in Lyme Regis. She finds a sampler stitched by a girl, Harriet, in 1865 and it becomes clear that something odd happened to Harriet - but what?
Knitting Mystery series by Maggie Sefton:
1. Knit One, Kill Two (2005)
2. Needled to Death (2005)
3. A Deadly Yarn (2006)
4. A Killer Stitch (2007)
5. Dyer Consequences (2008)
6. Fleece Navidad (2008)
7. Dropped Dead Stitch (2009)
8. Skein of the Crime (2010)
Black Sheep Knitting Mystery series by Anne Canadeo:
1. While My Pretty One Knits (2009)
2. Knit, Purl, Die (2009)
3. A Stitch Before Dying (2010)
Embroidery Mystery series by Amanda Lee:
1. The Quick and the Thread (2010)
2. Stitch Me Deadly (2011)
I'll hasten to add, I've not read any of these books, but I may well have just persuaded myself to look into some of them!
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We don't have any pets at the moment. I used to have dogs, rabbits, guiniepigs and fish when I was a kid, and my sister also had mice and hamsters at various points. Unfortunately, I'm allergic to feathers, fur and cat and dog saliva, which kind of puts paid to me having many regular pets!
I adore reptiles and would love to keep an iguana, lizard or snake, but we don't have the room for an iguana and I can't stand the thought of feeding crickets and mealworms to a lizard, or mice to a snake.
We're planning on getting a couple of fish in a small tank for Xan's birthday as he loves watching fish and I think he'll enjoy feeding them and watching them swim about when he has some of his very own.
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I'm fortunate in that I've never had a bathroom book mishap. I've also trained my hubby to put the lid back down when he's finished if he wants to remain recognisably male!
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The lser would have been aimed by Jim's accomplice/puppet - he said himself he wouldn't be the one to pull the trigger (or however he put it - I can't recall now), so he had someone else there working for/with him. I still don't think the REAL Moriarty would have been aiming the laser, although I believe he would have been watching (perhaps not actually AT the pool though - maybe by hacking into the security system and watching it from afar...
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Try Simon Scarrow's Roman series - I don't remember there being any romance at all in the first couple of books and only a very small amount of very sensible romance in the form of a love interest later on in the series for Cato (not dealt with in a romantic way, as these are soldiers who have to be realistic in their chances of survival!). Start with Under The Eagle and go on from there.
Terry Pratchett's Discworld doesn't tend to have much romance either. The first two aren't the best in the series, but I don't recall there being any kind of love interest in any of the books till Mort and it's, again, not romance - more interested sparring in a humorous manner (as are all the love interest type scenarios on The Discworld).
If you fancy some classics, go back and read the Sherlock Holmes stories - Holmes is famous for his disdain of the fairer sex so you'll get no romance in those books!
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Ooh, I hadn't heard the River Song theory - I kind of like that though - LOL!
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My hubby has a theory, which, in some respects I agree with, but in others I think it can't be so because it would be so unfaithful to the spirit of the Sherlock Holmes book:
Jim is a red herring, a puppet with strings being pulled by a clever person whose deductive skills we've already seen match those of Sherlock. Dale reckons that Moriarty is actually Mycroft. His evidence for this is:
1. Mycroft has proven his powers of deduction and intelligence are equal to those of Sherlock.
2. Mycroft's car licence plate has "TPM" in it, which he reckons stands for "The Professor Moriarty"
3. The initials things again - "M" for Mycroft / Moriarty
4. In the first episode, Mycroft introduced himself to Watson as Sherlock's arch enemy / nemesis (I can't remember the exact wording, so forgive me - it was one or the other).
The whole plot with the stolen government plans that Mycroft was SO insistent SHerlock take on could have been a clever plan to keep Sherlock busy with something (as, obviously, as a high-ranking government official with top-secret clearance, he could get his hands on the plans any time he liked).
Anyone else got anything?
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You've got to have some 80s New Romantics in there - Duran Duran; Adam And The Ants; Ultravox; Depeshe Mode; Spandau Ballet; Japan; Visage, etc.
Then you've got your Brit Pop - the likes of Kylie; Jason (both together and solo); Rick Astley; Bananarama; Matt Bianco, etc.
How about some big-haired rock and metal too - Bon Jovi; White Snake; Guns n Roses; Poison; Iron Maiden; Van Halen; Metallica; Queen (Only Brian May had the big hair, but they were the dog's dangly bits!), etc
Other worthy mentions go to - Michael Jackson; Prince; Madonna; Pet Shop Boys; Genesis; The Police; Eurythmics
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OMGs! I'm so sorry, Echo - that's so tragic! It's awful when something like this happens, but even worse when it's a family member who has to live with the accident they caused. Seinding much love to you and yours.
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I think he would have made an excellent Doctor Who...
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Frantically looking for a "Like" button to click under that last post - LOL!
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I'm up to chapter 38 now and loving it SOOOOOOO much! I think this could end up being my new favourite at this rate.
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Has anyone worked out the third encrypted message on The Science of Deduction?
If you're having trouble decyphering the message, try visiting one of the other sites to do with the programme, namely Connie Price's one, and read the messages there. Sherlock gives the key.
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I was rather disappointed by Moriarty - and also by the fact that I worked out who he was too.
Other than that, it was quite an exciting episode with a pretty good cliff-hanger. Can't wait to see the next micro-mini-series! -
The Ghosts Of Sleath is actually a sequel, so read Haunted first, then The Ghosts Of Sleath, then follow that with Ash, which is the third one. I've only ever read the first one, but I'm a great believer that books in a series should be read in series order for best enjoyment.
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I was discussing Dacre's book with my brother yesterday. He read it recently and told me the basic plot. It all seemed a bit ridiculous to me. I certainly won't bother reading it.
I really enjoyed Dracula, would you say not to bother with the recent sequel?
I actually quite liked it. It has a definite dip in the middle and there are one or two things I wanted to see more/less of (in direct opposite of what there was - LOL!) but overall it was a decent read. Nowhere near as good as Bram Stoker's original, but still not bad and certainly a pleasant enough way to fill a few hours if you like vampire novels.
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Yes, that would be the marvellous Miss Adler, wouldn't it? (If memory serves). The one woman who ever earned the begrudging respect of Mr Holmes.
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Could be based on "A Scandal In Bohemia" then...
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Simon Scarrow's "Romans" Series:
Beneath the Big Bird (Under the Eagle)
The Big Bird's Victory (The Eagle's Conquest)
While the Big Bird Looks for Food (When he Eagle Hunts)
The Big Bird's Quarry (The Eagle's Prey)
The Big Bird's Prognostication (The Eagle's Prophecy)
The Big Bird On the Beach (The Eagle In the Sand))
Roman Commander (Centurion)
Prizefighter (Gladiator)
Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer:
Arthur Chicken (Artemis Fowl)
The Icy Episode (The Arctic Incident)
The Endless Cypher (The Eternity Code)
The Stone Subterfuge (The Opal Deception)
The Continuence Contradiction (The Time Paradox)
Arthur Chicken and the Utopia Syndrome (Artemis Fowl and the Atlantis Complex)
The Septantarian Small Man (The Seventh Dwarf)
Philippa Gregory:
The Alternate Boleyn Daughter (The Other Boleyn Girl)
The Boleyn Bequeathment (The Boleyn Inheritance)
La Monarch Blanch (The White Queen)
La Monarch Rouge (The Red Queen)
The King's Wife's Idiot (The Queen's Fool)
Intimate Associate of the Untouched Woman (The Virgin's Lover)
The Perpetual King's Daughter (The Constant Princess)
The Alternate King's Wife (The Other Queen)
Soil Enjoyment (Earthly Joys)
New Ground (Virgin Earth)
Spacious Piece Of Land (Wideacre)
Preferred Progeny (Favoured Child)
Apex (Meridian/Meridion - I took the alternative spelling - LOL!)
A Befitting Business (A Respectable Trade)
She's Sharp! (Wise Woman)
Popular authors re-releasing older books
in General Book Discussions
Posted
Back in the early-mid 90s, I bought a re-released copy of The Carpet People by Terry Pratchett. He'd written it when he was younger and had it published, then re-worked it and re-released it when he was older and wiser. I thought it was wonderful. It was my first experience of Terry Pratchett. My next was Reaper Man (my first experience of Discworld). I've adored his novels from the very start.