willoyd

Sorry to take so long to reply, have been away the past couple of days. I was thinking of Instance of the Fingerpost when I mentioned Pears - a real great when it comes to crime.

It's good to read that I'm not the only one who hates the change of format part of the way through a series. It's just happened to the Brunetti series. They've all be mass market size, and have suddenly switched over to what I think is called B format. Totally unnecessary - even my poor eyesight can cope with the smaller font size (unlike some paperbacks where the print is virtually unreadable). Not just fiction either - the third volume in the Richard Evans trilogy on the history of the Third Reich has come out in a completely different style of cover to the first two (and not half as attractive either - positively boring and old fashioned in fact). Actually, the quality of the design work on paperbacks does often seem to detiorate with editions rather than improve. Can't understand why.

I don't think it comes down to American v British for me, but individual authors. I also like a fair bit of Euro-crime. Ones I'd class as favourites include Paretsky, Evanovich, Chandler, Laurie King, Pears, Gregory (Chaloner not Bartholomew I've never got into medieval crime except for the brilliant Name of the Rose), Conan Doyle, Collins, Childers, Kate Atkinson, Simenon, Mankell, Leon, Lauren Henderson, Larsson, Sjowall & Wahloo.

I love loads of crime novels, but that's a bit different from the individual character: e.g. I grew up with Sherlock Holmes, and adore the books, but I don't think characterisation was one of Doyle's strengths. My favourite characters are probably VI Warshawski (surprised there's only been one mention of her), Sam Jones (Lauren Henderson's books), Stephanie Plum, Guido Brunetti, and Jules Maigret. I've also recently read Laurie King's The Beekeeper's Apprentice, and I think Mary Russell might soon get added to that list (King also creates a much stronger character out of Holmes too).

Girl with a Dragon Tattoo was a superb read - finished it at 3am on the ferry coming home from holiday as simply couldn't put it down. Lisabeth is a brilliant character. I do hope the film comes to the UK soon - the trailers look almost as good as the book. Have held off starting the Girl Who Played with Fire until I can actually sit down and let rip - not during school term time - but have got the final book on pre-order with Amazon: due out in a few days' time.

I don't read much autobiography, since I prefer a biographer's viewpoint rather than the individual's own, but I have enjoyed Strange Places, Questionable People by John Simpson, and the recently published A View From the Foothills, Chris Mullins's diaries whilst a government minister, which is unusual for me as I'm not normally into political memoirs. Overall, I'm much keener on biography, particularly historical, as all too many modern biogs are either of complete nonentities, or are written far too early in the subject's life. There's not been much mention of historical biographies on this thread since Fiona's post back in 2007, so hopefully this list of some of my favourites will help redress the balance a bit. Pretty much anything by Jenny Uglow and Claire Tomalin (they're both brilliant!). The Last Englishman by Byron Rogers (JL Carr) Aristocrats by Stella Tilyard (The Lennox Sisters) Mary Queen of Scots by Antonia Fraser Wellington, Years of the Sword by Elizabeth Longford Shackleton by Roland Huntford In Search of Robert Millar by Richard Moore (perhaps the best sports biog I've read)

Hi. Just signed up last night. Am an avid reader of fiction and non-fiction (about 50-50), although don't clock up the sorts of numbers some do, about 40-50 per year, not least because I like reading other material too! In fiction terms, my favourite author is Jane Austen, followed in no particular order by Patrick O'Brian, Charles Dickens, JL Carr, Donna Leon, Peter Ackroyd and Jasper Fforde amongst others. My non-fiction reading is fairly varied, but I suppose is dominated mostly by history (especially the long 18th century), science and travel literature, favourite writers being Simon Schama, Claire Tomalin, Jenny Uglow, Lisa Jardine, Alistair Cooke, Jonathan Raban and Jan Morris (amongst others!)