honestfi
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Posts posted by honestfi
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I recommend R J Ellory's A Quiet Belief In Angels. He tries a bit too hard to be Steinbech (whom I don't like especially) and parts of it are very disturbing, but there are plenty of ideas and issues to discuss.
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In no particular order:tong:
Dalziel and Pascoe (Reginald Hill)
Fitzroy Maclean Angel (Mike Ripley)
Crowner John (Bernard Knight)
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That's interesting, as I haven't read past that one. It's a shame sometimes when a great series just gets dragged on for too long. I'm sure there's a new Adrian Mole book out too - unless I've imagined that.
There were two after that I believe. I read the first one and was disappointed - okay the whole series is basically farce, but she'd taken it too far. She had him basically 'getting over' Pandora, with a lovely new girlfriend....and then she tore him to pieces again. Made me think...does she really hate this character or what?
Dunno if there will be any more, considering, isn't she registered blind now?
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This may be in the wrong place and belongs in Classics, I wasn't sure. Mods, please move if you have to..
Thinking of Clueless, an adaptation of Emma, I was wondering if anybody had any thoughts about films in a similar vein, good or bad? Another obvious one I can think of is 10 Things I Hate About You (The Taming Of The Shrew). Okay, so both of these are chick-flicks really, and the critics quite liked them, but are there any that in your opinion are a disgrace to the book? Or even any clever adaptations, and stand out? Not so much adaptations that stick to the era, or have the same words (such as the costume dramas we've been getting lately, or Olivier's Richard III, for instance) more remakes, where they've used a book's story (a classic, usually) and just used the storyline.
Were there any films such as these that made you want to get the book?
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Saw some of it last night, v good, but thought the actress was modelling herself on the modern remake Clueless. I've never read Emma myself, but I felt like I wanted to smash the manipulative 'b''s head in.
Enjoyable though, I'm looking forward to next week.
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Must admit, I'm not one for experimenting very much, as my hubby isn't in to strong flavours of any kind, except for perhaps a slight hint of chilli (and me too, since my gall bladder op causes nasty reflux if I put too much spice into food)
That said, a mixture of Keith Floyd (RIP) and Jamie Oliver got me into trying to be different with the midweek meal. Needs to be quick, balanced, low spice and (preferably) fairly low fat. Spaghetti bolognese, shepherd's/cottage pie, chilli con carne you can ring the changes a bit, a splash of sherry here and there perhaps, even a dash of curry powder in the pie. Just lately dreamed up a couple of recipes that were original recipes once, and have ended up being my own:
Base is chicken, onion, pasta shapes and a jar of pasta sauce, carbonara or tomato based, it changes. Anyway, chicken and onion gets fried up, pasta gets boiled for maybe a couple of minutes. Whole lot goes into an oven dish, along with some veggies. Some fresh, usually frozen. Some streaky bacon perhaps....garlic maybe...ah mushrooms left over, in they go. Stir up, into the oven GM5 20-25 mins. Then cover with cheese unless conscience doesn't stretch quite that far. Back in the oven, served in 20.
Another is chicken broth. Carcasse gets boiled up for an hour or two with an onion. OK, maybe not a quick midweek meal, but I tend to do this the day before I plan it. Once drained etc, the lot goes into the pot, anything I can find. Fresh chicken, mushrooms, peas, pasta shells, carrots, parsnip, swede, potato...anything in the cupboard or fridge that I can find, excellent for clearing out stuff in the fridge. Along with lots of seasoning and plenty of stock cubes, gets simmered for about an hour, and my 5 litre pot generally stretches to two days worth. Beauty with this is that there is very little washing up.
So anybody out there from the "chuck it all in" Floyd school of cookery?
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I seem to have read more British crime fiction than American. If I were to make a huge generalisation I'd say British authors of this genre tend to write more more complex and more intriguing twists and turns into their stories, the American novels can at times be a little too straight forward for my taste.
Much what I said earlier in the thread.
Straightforward US authors can be, but some of them take your breath away with the action. British authors tend to take things slower. -
How about the Adrian Mole books? They never fail to make me laugh.
Up to and including The Wilderness Years I agree, I think she should have stopped after that one. Just got far too crazy IMO.
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Charles Collingwood (Brian Aldridge) was on Breakfast TV this morning - plugging his new book (I think!).
He's married to one of them in real life isn't he? Is it "Shula" or "Peggy" - can't remember?
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Either that or I get a noise like someone banging coconuts together.
They call it Bubbling Mud. Which (probably) brings us neatly back to The Archers.
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First single would have been "House of Fun" by Madness, on 7" vinyl, brought from Woolworths in the Bull Ring (the old one!) for 99p.
First Album was Human's Lib by Howard Jones. Can't remember how much, but around 4 quid.
Now I feel old!
No way..just about my style.
Ah the 80s, going all nostalgic. -
First album 'tape' - Wham's Make it Big.
First 7'' single - Pet Shop Boys Love Comes Quickly
First LP - Pet Shop Boys Please
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How does the PI always figure out the red herring in time? Why is the Assistant DA even out on a case with the police? Why is the maverick ALWAYS able to solve the case?
...and why do I still love it?
Actually, there are some unusual ones out there, when the case isn't solved, that it isn't a happy ending, or it is open. Finding a good one is another matter. -
I have to disagree with you on this. Ed McBain 87th precinct series and Elmore Leonard crime thrillers I find very believable. So some american crime is rubbish, but so is some British.
When the sleuth is a little old lady or an aristocratic lord, who repeatedly comes up against murderers and then solves the crime. That is unbelievable.
Agree, or is it that this particular format is jaded, after all, Christie made some money from it.
For me, the sleuth has to be a cop or at least a private investigator, that brings him or here into contact with the crime, or it just doesn't make sense.Not so sure about that. I have read some excellent and believable reads where the hero is not a PI or a cop. Angel is one of them. Oops him again.
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I recall a thread here about readers who scribble in margins of their, or even worse, library books, noting objections or just general comments. Came across one last night in the Robert B Parker book I'm reading:
511 - the number of times "said" is used
My first reaction....AND? Your point is?
(By the way my INTP was tempted to go through the book and prove the person wrong. They had far too much time on their hands.)
Okay, at school I was encouraged to reduce the number of times I used the word "said" and in writing in later years I felt dead guilty about using said rather than shrieked, cried, yelled, whispered, grunted, sang, whined...etc, etc you get the gist. But the thing is about these words is that although you get a feel for how it is said, if appropriate, what if they just, well, "say" them....then it's "said" is it not? What is really wrong with the word "said"? And if, like me, you're not looking for especially clever prose, just a banging good plot with bodies in all sorts of weird places, should you really care? Then I read a book on writing stories and novels, and in it is a discussion on said. The upshot: don't try and be too clever. If said fits, said does.
Previous novel I read by Parker had a lot of saids too. But although I noted it, I didn't let it bug me. The plot, execution and the humour was what I was looking for, and that's what I got.
So. Are you put off by the overuse of said or does it really depend upon what you are reading?
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Crikey, internet radio. When I bought our digital radio recently I saw that Roberts were doing one of these devices. Sounds like it's worth having! I got a DAB radio that you can record programmes on but haven't worked out how to use the programmer thing on it yet!
Sorry, only just spotted this for some reason, or maybe I forgot.
Anyhoo, my vote is Internet Radio over DAB any day. DAB coverage round here is pretty poor, so it's maybe 7000+ stations (IR) versus 30 (DAB)...aaaaahhmmm...no contest. Course, the disadvantage is that it counts as your monthly 'download' rate for all the hours you have it switched on. Therefore, I have to have unlimited download, which fortunately my ISP provides. We have a LOGIC Internet Radio which has served us well so far, and I suppose there is another disadvantage insofar it needs to be plugged in to a power source as they do use a lotta juice (but not as much, say, as a tumble dryer, but somewhat more than an ordinary radio).
I think the advantages of having LOD for most BBC programs, and the opportunity to listen to stuff clearly from all over the world (apart from live sports) - for instance we were listening to the Southern States of the USA last year when they had those couple of terrible hurricanes and I found it fascinating - anyway I think this and more far outweigh the disadvantages.
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If you like comedy detective, Mike Ripley and Colin Bateman are two of the best.
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I second that. I don't like the book but love the film
Phew, not alone.
There were parts of the book that went beyond farce, and being just extra "drama" to the book, the film-makers kept to the basic story. Thank goodness for that, and so weird that keeping a lot of stuff out of the book it made an okay film, usually lack of detail makes a bad film. -
This won't be popular.
Bridget Jones Diary.
What a load of pretentious trite, IMHO. Film - not a dry seat in the house.
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Well I like both American and British crime novels. And I love detective fiction. Ed Mc Bain and Elmore Leonard for American favourites, and Reginald Hill and Colin Dexter and Ian Rankin for British favourites.
Mustn't forget Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes though.
PS.
I almost forgot. Phillip Marlow and Dashiel Hammett.
Ever tried Mike Ripley?
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Tell us about her style and the kind of stuff she writes about, always on the lookout for good crime novels.
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BT has held this country back for years. They make it VERY difficult for other companies (including broadband providers) to do a good job. BT were GIVEN the phone network, and have been profiting off it for years, yet they expect the public to incur the cost of keeping it upgraded.
My current provider is BT, and I was extremely happy with them for years, and I can tell you a story of a BT engineer who was an absolute hero for getting in a brand new phone line, getting around the monkey builder's wiring in the house we lived in, fully earning the
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I have the very basic package with Virgin Media which includes the phone line. I haven't really had much to do with them so far as I've only been with them 3 months, however the installer came when he was meant to, was very good at showing me what was what, and when I initially had a small problem with connecting the internet to my laptop, the customer service centre knew exactly what the problem was and sorted it straight away, so I have no complaints about them so far!
K, that's a vote for Virgin. Was considering them...
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my personal advice is that 1. companies that offer a bit of everything tend to be excellent at none of them and 2. you get what you pay for. Do you have a budget in mind?
Yeah, my sentiments entirely. I don't really want to go higher than
Good book about Satan, demons etc.
in Book Search and Reading Recommendations
Posted
Padaemonium by Christopher Brookmyre