~V~

8. The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rebenfeld Amazon Link So, the book for March which I got as a prize.... This is one of those weird books. I loved it whilst reading it and yet was disappointed when I finished it. To me, it was like two books; one of which I really enjoyed and of of which I didn't. There were fictional characters investigating (or being involved somehow with) a murder. Loved this part. I also really enjoyed the extra character that was Noo Yawk at the turn of the last century. So much so that I was looking up the buildings described on the Interweb However, the part about Freud, Jung, et al was just superfluous (to me). It appears that Mr Rubenfeld was desperate to write about Freud in the states and the advent of psychoanalysis and so wrapped this murder tale around it. 8/10 due to the fact I enjoyed it while reading it and managed to ignore most of the 'real' characters

yes, that's what i was thinking. at the moment i'm thinking i should read the philip pullman stuff and so it looks like a good place to do so. i do have books listed on RISI but everything on there is so .... random (agree about sainsbury's prices too - very expensive)

i think i'm being thick here. i'd never heard of green metropolis until this thread and so had a look. all books £3.75. but i can buy new books in tesco or asda for £3.73! i suppose it's good for those books that are not brand new, or the supermarkets aren't stocking (they only seem to do familiar authors or if a book becomes extremely popular) but for a brand new book by a popular author, you are just as well getting it from the supermarket i know it's a sorry state of affairs when supermarkets are the best option for something as precious as books

i picked this one up in the states it was ok but not that great. i put it on RISI so it can't have been that good anyway, from what i see on fantasitc fiction, he died in 2001 so there won't be any new ones from him oh, and welcome to the forum

who? was she in it?

7. With No One as Witness - Elizabeth George Amazon Link Blimey! This was heavy going! I can't believe I took six weeks to read a book. One by a previously favourite author too. Admittedly, the last 100 pages or so, it speeded up considerably and I completed these at my usual pace. Other than that it was turgid and slow for 80% of the book. Many of the usual main cast of characters were put off to one side, Deborah and St James for two, and quite a few of the secondary characters weren't even visible (Deborah's father and Barbara's mother for example) The book jumped around far too much and, as it was about a serial killer, anybody could have been the perpetrator. I did guess one major thing early on, but the main denouement was a major disappointment as there were no more reasons for it to be person a then it was person b (does that make sense?) So, in essence, these are my major criticisms: - it's far too long - too many unbelievable characters (Barbara's neighbours, some of the staff at Colosseum, Griff, his wife and Ulrike in particular) - the side-lining of two previously major characters (although this has been happening slowly over her last couple of 'lynley' books) - anybody could have been the killer. So it was less like the whodunnits that made her popular in the first place - it felt like a lesson in the drudgery of police work. So much time was spent on the routine aspect of their job - I can't warm to Winston. He feels like a total caricature. Then again, so does Lynley i suppose - yet again 'Havers saves the day' - the ending is dire. I think maybe the TV series (which I never watched, after the first one, due to totally poor casting and poor production) has thrown Ms George into a bit of a spin. This is such a departure from what she was good at that I'm undecided as to whether I'll ever purchase one of her books again. 4/10

have no idea why, but i had steven penned as the winner from about midway through last week (when david was still in it) much as they made heavy work of the issues each of them had, steven appeared to make the least mistakes and then the bette triumphs. he and hannah were both lovely, warm, generous people ben seemed like a spoilt brat all the way through to me oh yes, weren't the paris kitchens very different to the noise and aggression in the british ones? the ladychef was lovely

the book i'm reading is 664 pages. i wish it'd hurry up as i'm anxious to read the monthly book before the month is out. (and that's the second time it's happened to me on here! *pout* )

mr god this is anna - fynn the day after tomorrow - allan folsom the eight - katherine neville all the agatha christie books probably others i can't think of right now i shall read the whole harry potter series again, maybe when they're all completed. also shall re-visit the time traveller's wife (somebody has my copy at the moment) and memoirs of a geisha

i'm watching tesdays with morrie at the moment was surprised to come across it on bbc2 just as it started

clever

6. Little Face by Sophie Hannah Amazon Link I'm not sure about this one. I was desperate to get it when I read about it on here and read it as soon as I had finished my previous one. It is a page-turner and takes on some twists and turns. Also there's an unusual way with the chapters as one chapter is one character, the next is a second character but a week later and so on swapping between the two. However, I'd read a couple of write-ups that had no spoilers but mentioned a big twist at the end. Sorry Sophie, but it wasn't much of a twist for me. Yes, the story meandered a little but, much as I enjoyed reading it, the ending was a bit of a let-down. The characters were all pretty odd too. Much too over-characterised in a way. When I read a book, I want to like at least one of the characters, or identify with them in some way. In this, I had no sympathy or empathy with any of them and I suppose, ultimately, that's what let the book down for me. I just didn't care enough 7/10 purely because i was eager to read it and it kept me turning the pages

my boss helps to run a JA appreciation society - she hated it if she'd told me before i bought it and then read it, she'd have saved me some time. i thought it was dreadful

same here i do think he's in danger of becoming formulaic though and he's done the opposite to elizabeth george, being a brit who sets his stories in the usa

weird. have copied the top line so you can see Welcome WastingTime [Logout] - Members Friends Groups Mail

i'm WastingTime on listal i tried adding stuff from the top rated stuff, but it seems quite picky as to which ones it adds. need to get my head round it a bit better

i'm turningpages on there all i've listed so far are my five favourites (as listed on here) and also the books i'm reading this year. funny thing is, i don't even have all those books any longer

anyone else use this? it's quite good fun to catalogue your books (you can list up to 200 as a free member) and also to see who else has similar books to you there's lots more to it such as 'clouds' and recommendations, plus you can read discussions or comments on the books, rate them yourself, etc etc it's a pretty comprehensive site

weird really, as you'd expect the two to go hand-in-hand.

if you like thrillers, you should like him. if not, i'll happily take the blame

i'v been wondering if i should register books i put on RISI on there? i am a member and do receive alerts, but nothing in my town. i work in a college, and also at an outreach centre for it, and so can release books at work easily. seems nobody else here does it though *shrug*

a woman(?) writing to prisoners and then killing them on their release yes, that's his first one. i've read all up to this apart from 'the burning girl'. seem to have missed that somewhere along the line here's his full list

that was it for me too although i did like the puzzle box, not that it's symbolism

5. Lifeless by Mark Billingham amazon link i love billingham's stuff. he manages to get quite a bit of homour (ok, so it's black homour, my favourite sort) into the thrillers he writes. this one is quite strange as tom thorne is on the streets, living amongst the homeless. if you want to discove a new thriller writer and haven't read any of his stuff - go for it. i doubt you'll be disappointed 8/10