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SueK

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Posts posted by SueK

  1. Finished The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith,excellent crime debut from Rowling. Started The Unseen by Katherine Webb,and picked up library request of Secrets Of The Sea House by Elisabeth Gifford.

    I hope you enjoy Secrets of the Sea House, green.  I finished this at the weekend and really enjoyed.  An excellent debut novel.

     

    I am now half way through "What Have I Done" by Amanda Prowse and enjoying it albeit it is a bit harrowing at times.

  2. I've just finished a delightful little book called The French for Love which was a Kindle Daily Deal a little while back.  Good value for money!

     

    I'm now reading a few short stories by Guy du Maupassant while deciding what to read next.  It's still Summer so I'm still in the the mood for light reads.

  3. I finished Eye Of The Needle, another rattling good read from Ken Follett & decided to go for a book of short stories next as the summer holidays is a busy time for me & so i've just started The Little Disturbances Of Man  Grace Paley. I've only read the first story so far which wasn't great but hopefully there'll be a few gems in there  :smile:

     

    Loved Eye of the Needle - one of the best of Ken Follett's in my opinion - and I thought the film was as good as the book too.

    I'm currently immersed in a biography:  Peter the Great by Robert K. Massie.  The writing is wonderful, and the history is fascinating.   

    Robert K Massie is a superb writer isn't he?  Have you read his tome on Nicholas and Alexandra?  Great reading.

     

    Well, I finally, finally finished Citadel by Kate Mosse.  900 + pages which took nearly all of July to get through :o  .... (other things did get in the way though).  I thoroughly enjoyed it and reckon it's better than Labyrinth and Sepulchre and now finishes off the trilogy nicely.

     

    I'm now making a start on Midnight in St Petersburg by Vanora Bennett.

  4. Thanks for the update Sue, that's good to hear.  It's definitely one I'm going to get at some point, probably for a holiday read.

     

    Today I've downloaded Once You Break A Knuckle by D. W. Wilson from the Kindle Daily Deal. I saw the author at ShortStoryVille last year, and he read an excerpt from one of the stories and talked about the collection and his background, and I've been meaning to buy it ever since, so at 99p it was a snip! :smile2:

     

    I'm still reading The House on the Strand which I'm still not sure about. So far, it's nowhere near living up to my experience of Rebecca but we'll see where it goes.  :readingtwo: 

    I found The House on the Strand quite weird actually and reckon it was written in one of du Maurier's "dark" days - there are few like that one that are difficult to read.  I still think Rebecca is her best but I also like a lot of her short stories like The Birds (so different to the film) and Don't Look Now.  Have you read My Cousin Rachel - that is almost as good as Rebecca.

  5. Both look interesting, but I don´t think I have the endurance to read 1000+ pages of "Romance". Maybe I give The Pillow Book a try. Nevertheless thanks for your recommendations :)

     

     

    No, I haven´t, but from what I´ve read about them, I get the impression, that they are not as nearly as good as Shogun. Would you recommend reading them?

      I would definitely recommend Tai Pan, great story telling revolving around Hong Kong and the Opium wars.

  6. Just finished An English Affair, Richard Davenport-Hines' account of the Profumo affair.  It's a very thoughtful and in-depth study of the scandal that rocked Britain at a time when the stultifying, class-bound society of the post-war years was on its way out, but the Sixties hadn't quite started to swing.  Davenport-Hines paints a particularly sympathetic picture of the society osteopath Stephen Ward, conventionally regarded as a procurer in the case, but he creates a strong case for Ward as the victim of a hypocritcal and vindictive Establishment closing ranks to protect its own.

     

    Well worth a read, by the way!

    Well you would say that wouldn't you! :D

     

    Actually I remember the case very well and like most people was  fascinated by it.  I will look out for it as it sounds an interesting read.

  7. I've got A Month in the Country and re-read this on occasion as it is beautiful and haunting.  I'm interested in more of his stuff too.  Thanks for starting this Claire.

  8. I finished Moon Over Soho this morning - another fab book, and thoroughly enjoying this series. :smile2:

     

    Started the second Phryne Fisher book, Flying Too High and I'm really enjoying these too!  Quirky crime, that's my cup of tea. :D

     

    Also popped into the bookshop and bought myself a copy of Gemma Bovary by Posy Simmonds.  I liked Tamara Drewe very much, and was reminded to look up Posy Simmonds again after an article in the Guardian last week, so was delighted to find a copy of Gemma Bovary in amongst the graphic novel section which was full of mostly sci-fi books.

     

    I downloaded the first Phryne Fisher book recently as I think it was a Kindle Daily Deal.  Looking forward to reading it as it sounds a good holiday read.

     

    I'm a bit behind on my reading right now as I've just returned to civilisation after my daughter's wedding.  I finished the Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer and have started on The Sins of the Father by Alan Massie.

  9. But at least you know now, so it's not sat on the shelf taunting you any more! :D

    Well, it not very often I do this but I had to dump this book after about 200 pages last night.  It was just dross.  Still as you say Claire it wont taunt (or even haunt) me any more.  It can sit on the Oxfam bookshelf instead. :smile:

     

    I've now started on William Brodrick's latest book "The Day of the Lie".  Ahh proper reading .....

  10. I downloaded the full works of Thomas Hardy yesterday on my Kindle for £1.92 (including his plays, poems and critical essays about him). I am need of some good literature to  digest so will make a start on Tess very shortly.

  11. I don't know if this author has been discussed before but I'm ashamed to say I haven't read any Kingsley Amis.  I will always have a stack of books to read for the rest of my life but I would like to ask what your opinion is of this author and do I make way for him.  Any ideas on what to read of his?  I have fancied the look of "That Uncertain Feeling".

     

    Thanks

  12. There are loads of books out there on the Cathars - I wrote one myself (covering lots of other subjects as well), which is just about still in print (and also available Kindle). I visited both Carcassonne and Montsegur, among other places as part of the research and found both fascinating - especially their nearby caves. I would love to return some day. As for Labyrinth though - I tried to read it a few years ago, but found it just wasn't my cup of tea - maybe I have read too many non fiction books on the subject.  

    Aaaah June, I remember the Cathar conversations we use to have on "that other forum"  with a few other members.  Like you, I never really got into Labyrinth, I don't really feel Kate Mosse got to grips with the Cathar story.

     

    I made it to the top of Montsegur and Queribus (deprived of oxygen at the latter - it was so high!!).

  13. I find all this Cathar stuff interesting.

    I love the history of the Cathars and I went on one of those field tours a few years back - it was one of the best trips I have ever done.

     

    The book that started it all for me was The Holy Blood and Holy Grail (which Dan Brown based his Da Vinci Code on) by Henry Lincoln and co - it gives an excellent history of the Cathars and Templars (who were Cathar sympathisers).  There is also a very good book (and the title completely eludes me right now) by Rene Weis (Rachel's Dad) which gives an extremely good insight into Cathar history.  I'm sure if someone googles Cathar and Rene Weis they find the book I mean.

     

    Updated:  found it: The Yellow Cross: The Story of the Last Cathars 1290-1329

  14. Did anyone watch the series?  I watched the 1st episode on Saturday and recorded the 2nd one last night so yet it see that part.  It was OK ish.  I love Carcassonne and it was lovely to see the Citadel as well as the town of today - brought back good memories.  As usual with these things, the dialogue gets muffled - especially the girl Alice in the present and those French guys - well who knows what they were on about!!  I liked John Lynch as De Montfort though - thoroughly nasty chap he was .  And I hope to see more of John Hurt in Ep. 2.

  15. Nice to meet you June.  I know what you mean when you want to just talk books and people start looking at their watches :smile: .  Anyway, I'm not a million miles from you either, in cold  Tunbridge Wells.

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