pontalba

The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino has gathered dust on my shelves for several months at least, and that's just a shame. Psychological, twisty mysteries/detective stories are a particular favorite of mine although I haven't read too many of the Japanese persuasion. The differences, to say an Irish mystery, are interesting. Banville/Black/Irish features an emotional and poetic style that is unmistakeably his, while in Higashino I can see the logical, and formal at work. Typecasting? Perhaps, but after all, typecasting is there for a reason. Not always valid, but enough so to use as a partial guideline. Devotion is sparely and elegantly written, sketching the characters line by line, revealing only as much as needed at the time. A murder, a cover-up, old alliances all come into play. This is evidently part of a series, and I plan on investigating all of them. Recommended. 4/5

I well may have poppy, I seem to recall at least possessing A Horseman Riding By. I know I read 3 or 4 of Delderfield's books back in the 70's or so - which ones aside from the first, I'm just not sure. I have to root around, but I might still have them. Mass market pb copies from then. I've actually found a hardback copy on Amazon Marketplace for GIAE, and mean to look for the rest.

A Death in Summer by Benjamin Black aka our John Banville cannot be praised highly enough as far as I am concerned. Black is in true Banvillian form with Quirke et als muddling about in 1950's Dublin. In fact, the exact time can be pinpointed, as Nasser's ascendancy to the presidency of Egypt is mentioned, so June, 1956 is the Summer. There is no question of the story being dated in any fashion though. It could be last century, or this century, time is immaterial in a Banville novel. As always, Black's story is more about the relationships, likely and unlikely, between characters. The question of who dunnit is rather secondary. At least till the final blow falls, and all is revealed. Then it gets a bit sticky. Banville's prose flows over the reader as smooth as silk in his own painterly fashion. Highly Recommended!

Hey Julie. Many years ago I read a series of books by R. Delderfield, God is an Englishman. There is a whole series. I loved them back then, and looking at the link I'm putting in, I want to reread!! This is the link for kindle. http://www.amazon.com/Englishman-Swann-Family-Saga-ebook/dp/B003H29CLG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1332014767&sr=8-2

The Expats by Chris Pavone has a great storyline, but the execution is way too choppy for my taste. A woman that has been CIA, married to a banker, well sort of a banker/financial/security guru. He puportedly takes a position as a security expert on hacking bank computer systems in Luxembourg. Uprooted life, the whole nine yards ensue. But is it all, rather is he on the up and up? The more she finds out, the more she suspects all is not as it appears. It's great as far as who knew what, when...but it wasn't enough for me. I usually don't mind time shifts in novels, but this group of back and forth between 3 and sometimes 4 time lines was not executed in anywhere near a smooth fashion. I finally became accustomed to it, but it sort of left me cold. There are some great details and interesting twists to keep one reading though. A rather "ennh" 3/5

Even though I was disappointed in Jack Finney's Time After Time, I was compelled to read the 20-odd year later sequel, From Time to Time. In book time it only takes place a few years after the original book. Again, it was a let down. Finney makes a hard sell of the theory that past events cannot be changed, that once an event takes place, that's it! It is futile to "go back" and attempt to rewrite history/events. I know that most time travel stories foster this notion, but Finney somehow casts a grey pall over the topic. The very large sledge hammer he uses to drive this point home is unnecessary and, to me, depressing. I give it 2 out of 5 only for the again wonderful geographical details of New York City both in the 1890's and 1912. Last night I finished The Nazi Officer's Wife, and while the writing is plain, it has a simple force that compels the reader to the end. It doesn't matter that we know how it ends, we have to read every word of this true story. How this woman had the nerve and stomach to carry out her subterfuge is quite beyond me. She is an amazing woman and one to be admired.

I'm reading The Nazi Officer's Wife by Edith Hahn Beer with Susan Dworkin. Fascinating story, amazing woman!

Great review Milo M. Thanks. I've only heard a little of Gaye's music, but what I have heard was smooth and wonderful.

Julie......ONLY FOR A MINUTE??? I had not even heard of Geocaching before this thread! Julie, those two guys sound creepy, don't think I'd care for that a bit. /shiver/ Even out here in the country where we live now. Much less in the City years ago.

I've been dithering for the most part, but have finally gotten about 2/3rds of the way through Bloodland by Alan Glynn. It's a neat little story, quite twisty in nature. High finance, politics, ex- P.M.s...the whole bit.

We only started watching it the other night, just watched the 4th episode. We are streaming it from Amazon for free as we are Amazon Prime members. Love the show!

Wonderful Kell! Nothing like smaller jeans to make us feel better! Honey Girl, it's too true, feeling reluctant to start is an awful hurdle to overcome, but the benefits are both physical and mental, and even emotional. We're off to the gym now! No, really, we are! We have a treadmill and bike here, at home, but we're going for the elliptical "killer", and some weight machines. We haven't been staying on Atkins, but have at least cut down on food intake, and it's working so far. In fact we had weetabix biscuits with cream cheese this morning. Lovely.

Just watched the trailer of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel on IMDb, and an interview with Judi Dench....looks fantastic! We were laughing like crazy at just the adverts!

Haven't had much chance to read the last 10 days or so, started a few, put them down. I did receive in the mail today the 10th anniversary edition of Neil Gaiman's American Gods. It's supposed to have the "author's preferred text". Hmmm, we'll see.

Just split a bit of white chocolate bread pudding with hubby. Accompanied by red wine. yummmmm!

Hey there, I'm afraid I've continued to some extent with my wicked ways. However, I have managed to maintain the 15 pound loss I'd previously attained. There was a little up and down, but it's steadied even though the dieting part and the exercising part has been iffy. We had company in from out of town for weekend before last, and we ate our way through the French Quarter. lol However, we've started back on the exercise part at least, with an eye towards true dieting again. Talisman, that's great, hope the trip was all you anticipated. Re the bolded (by me) section. That is one way of looking at it, but I try to look at it in exactly the opposite manner. IOW, at times the only thing I could control was what I put in my mouth, and chose to, or not to put junque in my mouth. Just sayin'.... Boy, lots of you seem to be into the Zumba classes! I don't know if I could keep up with it though!

I did too! I could hardly put it down. Here is a mini review I posted last year.... http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/7824-pontalbas-2011-reading-list/page__st__20 post # 22.

Time After Time by Jack Finney is very much a product of it's decade. Written in the mid 1970's, it brings the flavor of both paranoia of the "military-industrial complex" and romanticism of the past, a sort of Currier & Ives veiw of life in the 1880's. Somehow the characterizations are never deep enough, never thorough enough to satisfy. Motivation is lacking in my opinion, in most situations, and only a thin veneer of reasoning is presented. I love time travel stories, have since H.G. Wells Time Machine first crossed my line of sight. And, perhaps, that is part of the reason Time After Time is a bit unsatisfying for me. I want the machine. I want the physical process of time travel to occur. Time After Time tackled the actual travelling bit in a quite different matter, one I found a bit treacle-y. Can the past be manipulated to change the present? Most time travel stories bring a rather rigid view to that question, coming down hard on any attempts, but that aspect is treated a bit differently in this story, and we are left with.........well, I don't want to give it all away. Let's leave it at "maybe". In spite of all of the above, I mostly enjoyed the story, for the characterization of New York City itself was wonderful. Geographically fascinating, presenting the old and the new side by side, told with a sort of wonderment and joy that was quite contagious. For this, not alone, but mostly, I recommend this book and give it a 3/5 rating.

Kylie, the reason the very old houses had picture rails and chair rails was to protect the walls. They didn't have sheet rock back then, the walls were plaster over some sort of horizontal slats. Can't think what to call them. Anyhow, you shouldn't put holes in those walls, or damage them with chairs and such banging up against them, as they are difficult to repair properly. I don't know why cornices were so popular. But it did balance the other two I suppose, if nothing else. Decoration. Sophia, I wonder if it's an area thing? Maybe contractors up there just do things differently. I do love cornices, they really add something.

One of my all time favorites! I know it looks long, and it is......however, it's a fast read in spite of that. Just sayin'. Exactly, that's exactly right. I loved it. Funny, heartwarming, tragic.

Great pic poppy. Kylie, I love hats, and wear berets all winter long. In the summer, I try to remember to wear big brimmed straw hats.

Well. Hmmmmm. I've printed out the list, and it's interesting. Some of the questions are a bit daunting. I might try it.

Not your hat!! Awww, come on...lol Great picture.

First off, Kylie, those bookcases are gorgeous. Great lines! I see what you mean about the cornices, they are rather large. No, there are none in this house, but it was built in the mid 1980's, and they'd been phased out. In my old house, built by by grandfather in 1929, there were cornices, picture rails [or moldings], and chair rails on all the walls! Ain't dere no mo'! I don't know when they were phased out to tell the truth, in my father's house we had cornices at least, and that was built in the 1940's or so. So, to answer your question, at least as far as the U.S. is concerned [to my knowledge], no, for the most part houses are not ordinarily built with them. Ah, but I just remembered the house across the street from us, built in the late 1990's does have them, but the guy that built the house was a sort of contractor that built it for himself, and liked the extra touches. /phew/ sorry to be so long winded! And, I'll post more pictures tomorrow. lol

I loved that, saw it last year, husband had previously seen it and when we saw the used DVD, we grabbed it. We went to see Safe House the other night, fast paced spy story, Denzel Washington was fabulous, and the other main character, an unknown to me at least, was right on top of his role as well. Ryan Reynolds, that's the other actor. I'm listing the link as there is an older film with the same name. Safe House the 2012 film