SueK

It's very difficult to do I must say. I must sub-consciously put my book-magnet shoes on when I go out as they just gravitate towards the shop. My husband notices the sudden change of direction and says "step away from the bookshop!!! It works sometimes.

Sooooo , off we go again into the QFs. Fortunately we have a TV at work in our restaurant where we can go to watch the afternoon games (if we don't have any work getting in the way). I may well go down and watch some of the Holland/Brazil game as I reckon it will be a cracker. I am rooting for Holland as I think they have some great players (esp Robin van Persie of course who plays for Arsenal). Shame this wasn't the evening game on TV as I can't get worked up over the Uruguay/Ghana game yet.

I'm on my 3rd Maisie Dobbs novel and so glad I stuck with them. After the initial book which I wrote about above, the plots are well written and run extremely smoothly. There is a certain sadness to each one as they tend to concentrate on people who were connected with WW1 and in turn sets a poignancy to each story. The second book "Birds of a Feather" centres around a group of women in WW1 called The Order of the White Feather who used to give young men who hadn't been conscripted a feather to show them they were cowards. Many of these men later went to sign up for fear of being labelled cowards, only to die on the battlefield. Quite incredible how this Order could have been established in the first place. But more emphasis was placed on the "Your Country Needs You" propaganda then. I'm hoping to read all of them in due course - they are nicely rounded, clipped novels and I thoroughly recommend them.

Just seen on BBC that Beryl Bainbridge has died. Whilst not having read any of her books I realise she was a very important British writer. Has anyone read her books? Sad to read of her passing though.

I preferred the Laurence Olivier version too. It was made in the days before interpretation was put into films and they tended to stick to the original story more. (Loved him too in Rebecca but I digress.....) I have the Ralph Fiennes version and my disappointment was with Juliette Binoche who, to me, just wasn't Cathy (perhaps being French may have had something to do with it:blush:). Nothing against her personally, I thought she was great in English Patient and Chocolat but just not my idea of Cathy.

Is there a bit of a break now before the QFs? Much as I like footie, I feel in need of a breather.....

Finished Apartment 16 yesteday and now want to read something completely different. I'm shortly going to start All the Day Long by Howard Spring - a rather long saga that starts in 1876 and centres a around a family living in Cornwall - quite a refreshing change from Ghosts in London! I desperately need to come up for air and Cornish sea air would be the right medicine:).

I have to say that Apartment 16 has left me feeling profoundly sad for all the lost souls in the story. I know it is a ghost story, and a very good one at that, but more in the Stephen King rather than the MR James style. I had great empathy for Seth as we watched his life descend into insanity having started the story as a very lonely young man in a big city where you either make it or you disappear from it's big stage. I thought that his character was extremely well handled. Would definintely recommend this book - not just for the ghostly goings on but for the whole way the city is depicted - as Michelle says, pretty bleakly and I would say for a lot of people, that could be a very realistic view of urban life in today's society, if you are not blessed with friendship.

Stevie Wonder's greatest hits. Having watched his set live on Glastonbury last night I thought he was just amazing so I'm re-living it on my mp3.

I'd agree with the books mentioned above, esp Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, these books are of varying length so should at least be a good introduction to Victorian books without getting too bogged down. I'd also add to the list a book called Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon which is a fictional account of the Suspicions of Mr Whicher, a quite sensational murder case that took place in the early days of the English Police force when the detective was still a relatively new breed.

I'm reading this at present and am about half way though. As an avid fan of the ghostly tales in the M R James mould, I am enjoying the effect this book is having on me (not to be read late at night:blush:). My only negative reaction to it so far is the language. Whilst not being a prude in any way, I found some of the language unnecessary to the tale - but that is not stopping me from seeing how this really sinister story unfolds.

EUREKA:mrgreen: Apart from some short stories, I am taking Apartment 16 based on the reviews on here by Michelle and on Amazon. Why, I even left work early on Friday to get it in Smiths before the shop closed.

Well, I'm going on hols on Tuesday and I still don't know what to take to read. I keep packing some books, then taking them out again. I was quite keen to take The Crimson Petal and the White but is such a heavy book (for a paperback) that it will take up some precious luggage allowance. Whatever I decide take, it will now probably be books I purchased from charity shops where it doesn't matter if they get sun lotion on them and I can then leave them behind in the hotel. Now ... a bit of crime perhaps; nothing to plot heavy.; a bit of fun ......

My ultimate comfort reads are Conan Doyle (SH stories) and H E Bates, usually the Darling Buds of May series but any of his other books as well. I can also pick up an Ellis Peters book (Brother Cadfael series) even if my mojo has disappeared.

Well my copy of this book arrived yesterday but I'm not sure I shall take it away with me as it weighs a ton (and it's a paperback) - I'll be paying excess baggage:lol:. Still it looks a good book, I was skimming through it and found it quite engrossing. I shall now save it for a bit later.

I've sort of gone off Barbara Erskine. I didn't finish the last two I read of hers. I know her genre is historical regression and I loved Hiding from the Light and of course her earlier ones like Lady of Hay but I found lately that they don't do it for me any more. I don't knock her historical knowledge - just got a bit tired of that style of book. Regards what the OP said about American books showing English people being twee (like Tony Blair saying "old boy"), with respect to our friends across the pond, I find a lot of American books are like that. Chris Kusnetzki (awful books:irked:) put a lot of "jolly good show" type sentences in - he even couldn't be bothered to research a university outside Oxbridge and came up with University of Dover in one of his books - but that's another topic I think.......

You won't be disappointed coffin nail. However, if you want a taster first you can read them online here: http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/d/doyle/arthur_conan/

Apparently it costs

Funnily enough, pickle it was a non ACD book that got me started on Sherlock. It was an excellent book by Caleb Carr called the Italian Secretary (it was cover that attracted me) and I then went on to the real thing. Having read ACD, I have to say that Caleb Carr's homage to the detective was extremely good. I have a few books that pay homage to SH, namely the Seven Percent Solution by N Meyer and several books by David Stuart Davies including: The Game's Afoot and In the Shadow of Sherlock Holmes.

mwahahaha. I really must stay off crime books....

Thanks madcow. It's been shipped today so it may arrive in time to be my holiday reading.

Yes, but who will guess it first .........

Oh definitely Study in Scarlett is my favourite long story. For the shorter ones, I'm very fond of The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax and The Norwood Builder. The Hound of the Baskervilles holds a special place as well.

True.... but I could press-gang a few people off the street to be the victim/murderer (and they could have the scraps of leftovers)

Thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to resurrect this list. As my last guest list was real people, I thought I'd have another party and this time I'd invite some fictional characters: Morse Sherlock Poirot Barnaby who comes out on top gets the double helping of Death by Chocolate Cake.