Karsa Orlong

None of the film versions I have seen do it justice (there have been four attempts now, of which I've seen three). And all of them seem to forget the point of the book's title. One of the best final pages to a book I've ever read and it all goes flying out the window when they film it

Great review Athena! I think the book is better, too. By it's nature, with so many sub-plots, the tv series has to jump about too much, meaning some of the nuances are completely lost, whereas the books can take their time to develop situations and characters (of course, imo, Martin's kind of taken his time a bit too much in the fourth and fifth books!). Agree with this wholeheartedly - the so-called 'sexposition' scenes in the tv series are awful. It's like the producers/writers are a bunch of teenagers giggling at what they can get away with It's all done to shock, of course, because it gets the series publicity. It even got a mention on the radio yesterday when people were complaining about the sex scenes in The White Queen (the BBC adaptation of the Phillipa Gregory novel which started here on Sunday). You'll be pleased to know that the sex scenes have almost completely disappeared in season three of the tv show - there's just far too much other stuff for them to be getting on with. It was such a relief I think that is more applicable to what they'll have to do with season four of the tv show. The vast majority of season three refers to A Storm of Swords, and mostly to the first half of it. They might've moved a few plotlines about, or elaborated on them, just to keep all the actors busy. But generally I'd recommend reading the books first anyway - you're going to spend more time with them than the tv show, so I reckon it's best to read them unspoiled

I'm passable, I suppose. I'm not the sort of person who can just look in the fridge, pick a bunch of ingredients and make something off the cuff, though. The first time I try something, at least, I have to have a recipe in front of me and all the ingredients to hand. I enjoy cooking, though. I like cooking curries, using all the spices and such rather than ready made sauces or whatever. I put the radio on and listen whilst I'm doing it and find it quite fun and relaxing. Saturday morning, making a curry whilst listening to Fighting Talk on Radio Five Live is a regular occurrence

Book #33: Prophecy by S. J. Parris From Amazon: Autumn, 1583. Under Elizabeth’s rule, loyalty is bought with blood … An astrological phenomenon heralds the dawn of a new age and Queen Elizabeth’s throne is in peril. As Mary Stuart’s supporters scheme to usurp the rightful monarch, a young maid of honour is murdered, occult symbols carved into her flesh. The Queen’s spymaster, Francis Walsingham, calls on maverick agent Giordano Bruno to infiltrate the plotters and secure the evidence that will condemn them to death. Bruno is cunning, but so are his enemies. His identity could be exposed at any moment. The proof he seeks is within his grasp. But the young woman’s murder could point to an even more sinister truth … Thoughts: I've been sitting here for about ten minutes trying to think what to write Suffice to say, reading another Tudor period book straight after Bring Up the Bodies was probably not such a great idea And Prophecy is not such a great book - it's not awful, either, it's just rather average. That's why I couldn't help posting the image above - you know when a publisher comes out with that sort of nonsense about a book that they realise it's perhaps not quite as good as they're making out. I've read a fair number of historical murder/mystery/thrillers and I am quite a fan of the sub-genre. I read S. J. Parris's first 'Giordano Bruno' novel, Heresy, a few months ago and pretty much all of my issues with that book are repeated here, apart from one notable one: Giordano Bruno himself. Okay, so he was a real person, but - in this book - he is one of the most incompetent and ineffective agents you can imagine. He stumbles about from one dangerous situation to another, is handed clues on a plate (rather than by actual investigation), allows vital evidence and even suspects to escape, for no better reason than because the book would be much shorter if he didn't do so. For almost the whole book he worries that he is being followed, so every time he goes outside Parris repeats his feelings of being watched. And yet, despite this feeling he has, he still ducks into dark alleys. Hmm, I wonder what's going to happen. D'oh! It gets tiresome very quickly. And he is a worryingly two-dimensional character. There is no hint of humour or depth about him. His internal monologues are also repetitive; he worries about this, he worries about that, then a few pages later he worries about them all over again. It's not that I think S. J. Parris (or, to give her her real name, Stephanie Jane Merritt) is a poor writer (she's doing a damned sight better than me at it, after all!), but I didn't feel there was any verve or style to the writing, the sort of turn of phrase or characterisation or excitement that picks you up and sweeps you along for the ride. Unlike the first book, and very much like Hilary Mantel, she decided to write this one in the present tense. It should, in theory, provide a lot of momentum, driving the story forward. However, instead of conveying the sense of time and place through character and action, she does it through page after page of monotonous description. The book frequently gets bogged down in this mire, which is a shame, and it failed to excite me on any level because any sense of tension flies out of the window. I think I probably read this at completely the wrong time, straight after such a masterpiece, but I looked back at my comments on Heresy and realised that nothing had changed. You would, perhaps, expect there to be an improvement and evolution in both the characters and writing between the first and second books but I didn't really get that feeling. I did like that it was set in London this time, though. 4/10

It's an interesting point. I mean, most books contain the 'this cannot be re-sold, lent, hired or circulated without the permission of the publisher' warning, but we all do it. If they tried to enforce that, secondhand bookshops and charity shops would be in big trouble!

Great post, Athena I won't be going anywhere near the Xbox One. Forgetting all the online stuff and the used games debacle, new games are going to cost £55, and that's effectively just to buy a license that allows you to play the game. At least with Steam, even though I'm not getting a physical product, I'm paying under £10 for a game, on average, and most will still look as good, if not better, on my pc than on the new console. Microsoft have got this so completely wrong, but people will still buy it, so MS will feel vindicated The only way to stop this sort of nonsense is to vote with your wallet. There's a good article about it here. Having said that, I won't be going near the PS4 either. I jumped in on the last generation on release day, but this time I'm going to hang back and wait for the prices to drop - that's if I buy one at all.

Yes, I do

That's the one that's a novel, rather than a graphic novel, isn't it? I quite fancy that, good to hear you enjoyed it ETA: currently £1.89 for Kindle. Hmmm . . .

It's okay. Quite tense (the Clickers are scarily deadly, one wrong move and you've had it - I've died, a lot! ). Graphics/sounds/voice acting are all top notch. The gameplay doesn't seem all that different, though, so far. A mixture of stealth and survival horror games. I'm hoping that will change.

http://imgur.com/r/pics/KA1gYCQ

Oh, thanks, that's very kind, but I've got waaaay too much to read already. I had a read up about him, though. Sounds quite Ellroy-ish, which can only be a good thing Currently reading two books, which is doing its best to make my head explode (I usually only have one book on the go at any time ). I'm 300 pages into S. J. Parris's Prophecy (the second of her Elizabethan murder mysteries), and about 120 pages into The Lady in the Tower, Alison Weir's book about Anne Boleyn. I did open Prophecy yesterday expecting to read about Anne Boleyn and got quite confused when the chapter heading said it was set in 1583

300 piles of books on the floor?

I think I'm going to read two books at once I'm a man, I don't multi-task! But I'm very keen to read The Lady in the Tower, whilst Bring Up the Bodies is still fresh in my memory, so I'm going to dip into that one now and then, whilst continuing with my planned fiction books. It's between carrying on with the Tudor theme and reading Prophecy (S. J. Parris) or something completely different, James Ellroy's The Black Dahlia Plan update: Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel - finished 13/06/13 Emperor: The Gates of Rome by Conn Iggulden Prophecy by S. J. Parris The Mauritius Command by Patrick O'Brian The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy The Odyssey by Homer Something by David Gemmell, to be decided (probably either Hero in the Shadows or The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend) A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge The Technician by Neal Asher Pompeii by Robert Harris The Silver Spike by Glen Cook The one no-one saw coming: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

If you loved Wolf Hall I'm sure you will enjoy it. I found it was one of those books I didn't want to put down, and then kept looking at it when I did so, thinking 'I really want to read some more' Yep, mine too Can't wait for the final part, it should be cracking

Ooh, interesting! I love The Wire, so will be interested to know what his fiction is like

Just had The Last of Us through the post, so shall give that a go this weekend

Book #32: Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel From Amazon: Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2012, the 2012 Costa Book of the Year and shortlisted for the 2013 Women’s Prize for Fiction. With this historic win for ‘Bring Up the Bodies’, Hilary Mantel becomes the first British author and the first woman to be awarded two Man Booker Prizes (her first was for ‘Wolf Hall’ in 2009). By 1535 Thomas Cromwell is Chief Minister to Henry VIII, his fortunes having risen with those of Anne Boleyn, the king’s new wife. But Anne has failed to give the king an heir, and Cromwell watches as Henry falls for plain Jane Seymour. Cromwell must find a solution that will satisfy Henry, safeguard the nation and secure his own career. But neither minister nor king will emerge unscathed from the bloody theatre of Anne’s final days. An astounding literary accomplishment, ‘Bring Up the Bodies’ is the story of this most terrifying moment of history, by one of our greatest living novelists. Thoughts: Considering its predecessor was called Wolf Hall (the family home of the Seymours), it is not until the start of this sequel that we are actually taken there. Picking up a couple of months after the climax of the first book, which chronicled the rise of both Anne Boleyn and Thomas Cromwell, we now come to Anne's downfall, whilst Cromwell appears like a man riding the crest of a wave, the surfboard bucking beneath his feet, one misstep threatening to tumble him into the jaws of the waiting sharks. He's made a lot of enemies, Cromwell, in his climb to become Henry's chief minister and advisor. Anne, meanwhile, three years as queen, has failed to provide a son and heir to the throne and - as rumours begin to circulate of the King's deficiencies in the bedroom being to blame, and of Anne's infidelities - suddenly Henry's eyes come to rest on young Jane Seymour (who, at this stage, I am assuming was fresh from her role in Live and Let Die, and was far too young to have considered Doctor Quinn, Medicine Woman). Well, the writing is on the wall, isn't it? And, of course, it falls to Cromwell once again to facilitate the King's desires, knowing well enough the treacherous waters into which they will take him. I suppose, in the wrong hands, telling a story to which everyone knows the outcome could be something of a poisoned chalice, a turgid drudge to a predictable conclusion. In the right hands, though, knowing what the outcome will be can lead to heightened tension: you know what's going to happen but you are so involved that you can only look on, helpless, as the characters fulfil their roles in the tragedy. Mantel's are most definitely the right hands. Perhaps her cleverest, neatest and best trick is to relate the events in the present tense. In doing so, she got me right inside Cromwell's head, seeing this vivid, dangerous world through his eyes. Much as he seems to be riding that wave, I felt as if I was riding his thoughts, watching him cajole and manipulate and fight for every inch of ground he could gain. I know some people struggled with Wolf Hall but, for me, Mantel's prose is immaculate. It demands concentration, for sure (a slight distraction can lead to having to re-read a paragraph or page to grab back the thrust of a thought or scene), but it carried me from conversation to memory, flitting with Cromwell's thoughts to another half-formed memory, but always brought me back to the crux of the matter, the point of the scene. It is also riddled with caustic wit and profound observation. I frequently laughed out loud as I read: Cromwell is the master of the put-down, even if he internalises it. One such moment that stuck in my mind occurred early on, when Cromwell is visited by an enemy, the Bishop of Winchester, Stephen Gardiner: Mantel's style is not the most descriptive - you'll rarely find detailed descriptions of rooms, buildings, attire etc - and yet the time and place seems to come alive in her words. The characterisation is pin-sharp, if seen through a Cromwell-tinted lens. Everything is seen through his eyes and, whether or not he agrees with him, he will do what he has to do to meet the needs of his King. You fear for him at the same time as standing agog at the audacity of the actions he takes. Bring Up the Bodies is a triumph from the first page to the last, imo. For me to read a book that contains literally not one piece of action, and yet to come away thinking that the pacing was phenomenal, never dragging for an instant, shows to me just how good a writer she is. It is completely absorbing, immersive, exciting and scary. I've been feeling recently that I have over-scored a few books this year, and given a few too many 10s. This has kind of proved it, because it deserves to stand above all the other books in my rankings. It is far and away the best book I've read so far this year. 10/10

She's great in Game of Thrones, too. Hmm, shall have to dig the boxed set out again. Thanks Kay

Episode 1 of the new French show on Channel 4, The Returned. Good stuff!

My tastes have changed dramatically, too. I used to read just science fiction. Now I read science fiction and fantasy. Go me!

I've got the first couple of seasons on Blu-ray, but I've only ever watched the first four episodes. I guess it didn't really make much of an impression when I tried to watch it the first time Do you think it's worth me giving it another go then?

It'd have been so much easier if they had used a lightsaber They did have quite a few of Alison Weir's non-fiction books in Waterstone's today, including The Six Wives of Henry VIII, but it wasn't in good enough condition for me to want to pay full price for it. I'll hunt around for it Aaaaaargh! What's happened to my font?? Nooooooo! Ain't that the truth I've read a fair amount of Tudor-based fiction (mainly crime/mystery stuff) but these'll be the first factual ones I've read. I was kind of keen to start with Alison Weir's book about The War of the Roses, as a lead in, but I'm thinking I'm going to be quite keen to read The Lady in the Tower after I finish Bring Up the Bodies

She might, for all I know Yeah, she's okay, thanks Re Pixie and the foxes, I heard an awful noise the other night, opened the back door and turned the security light on, and she'd cornered one by the fence. It was half again as big as her and it was the one looking scared I think she was a bit peeved that my opening the door gave it the chance to jump the fence and get away. That was one very grumpy cat afterwards

Still mad She is good at chasing the foxes out of the garden, though Again, not on here