Karsa Orlong

Yeah, they are, aren't they? I love the way he weaves real historical figures and events into his story. Steven Saylor does similar with his 'Roma Sub Rosa' series, which is equally good. Pixie, the first book in Gregory's Tudor series is The Other Boleyn Girl

C. J. Sansom perhaps, if you fancy a historical murder mystery? Or Phillipa Gregory's Tudor series? Or how about Ancient Rome? There's Robert Harris or Steven Saylor.

My lasting memory of that film will always be Gene Hackman as the blind man

Don't you mean 'Young Fronkenstein'?

You'll be hearing Time Flies very soon then Fadeaway is on 'Up The Down Stair'

I think we have I was listening to them again this morning, a playlist I created. Can't remember exactly the order, but the tracks I heard this morning (there are 70-odd in the playlist ) went Voyage 34, Fadeaway, Hatesong, Time Flies Crikey, that takes me back. I remember seeing them at Hammersmith years and years ago

Decided to go with Lords of the Bow by Conn Iggulden next

Just finished The Leopard. Now what am I going to do?

The Leopard by Jo Nesbo At the start of The Leopard Harry Hole isn't, um, whole. He's a broken man, living far away from his native Oslo. One thing I've always liked about this character, and Nesbo's attitude towards him, is that he's a screw-up, but he's always tried to do the right thing, even if it's for the wrong reasons. The events of The Snowman have really taken everything away from him, and he's suffering as a result - at least until someone turns up with a request and a message for him, and leads him into another plot full of twists and turns that drag him across continents. Nesbo has come up with some pretty horrific methods of offing the victims in this book. The main one, concerning a particularly nasty little device, is bad enough, but there was another one involving a bathtub which I found truly disturbing. There's also some nicely down-played humour and a smattering of new characters to deal with, one of whom could end up being a rival for Tom Waaler's crown. Nesbo's deft handling of set-ups, pay-offs and building of tension is as assured as always, although I didn't think there was anything here to rival the sheer terror of the last hundred pages or so of The Snowman. And that, I reckon, is The Leopard's only problem - it's come hot on the heels of Nesbo's best (imo) novel to date. On the other hand, it's a lot longer than his other novels, and as a result the plot isn't quite as breathless. He also investigates the relationship between Harry and his father, Olav, which - at times - I found quite difficult to read. It's very sad, but superbly handled. Towards the end I began to wonder just how many more twists he could throw in (the answer was 'a lot'!) and marvelled at just how well the pieces all begin to slot together as the climax approaches. Some of it is a little unbelievable, but I'm willing to let him off. So it's not as good as The Snowman. But then, I don't think it could be, and that by no means signifies it being anything less than brilliant. 9/10

Because it's meant to be like reading a book, I suppose. If it was backlit it wouldn't be so easy on the eye for any length of time. There's an answer about it from Amazon somewhere - I'll see if I can find it Here you go: Amazon.com answer

Roadside Picnic by Arkady & Boris Strugatsky I found this one to be a real oddity. It's not that I didn't understand it (although there were passages that left me a little bemused) but I did wonder, at the end, what the point of it all was. Perhaps something was lost in the translation? The story begins some time after an alien landing on Earth. They arrived at six different Visitation Zones around the globe, didn't stay long, and left behind many artifacts and dangerous after-effects that make entering the Zones very dangerous. There are two main characters, which the story deals with in four distinct sections which take place over the course of eight years. First up is Red, a Stalker - someone who has made multiple sorties into a Zone to gather artifacts and then sells them on the black market for financial gain. He's a bit of a loose cannon and has been in prison for his exploits. He is the main character. The other is Noonan, a guy who works for the authorities and has been given the job of stopping the Stalkers from taking the artifacts so that they can be used for scientific experiments instead. Their stories converge on occasions. I have since found out that the book has something of a troubled history. It was written in 1971 but refused publication in the Soviet Union for eight or nine years and then, after that, was only published in censored versions up until 2000. Apparently, the Soviet censors believed the Zones to be a loosely veiled attack on communism. They changed large parts of the plot, characters and dialogue to bring it more in line with the thinking of Lenin and Marx. I'm assuming that the version I read was, in fact, the original version. Even so, I found it quirky and strangely disjointed, and the motivations of the characters never seemed entirely clear, at least until the last page, which ended on a rather strange note. It was readable enough, and short, so it didn't overstay its welcome. 6/10

Nine days to go Which means I have nine days to re-read three 1,200+ page books Not gonna happen, is it? Might wait for a Kindle version anyway - I think the hardback might be a wrist-breaker I read a spoiler-free review the other day which said: "Although George R. R. Martin, Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson, and other SFF authors will have something to say on the matter before everything is said and done, as things stand Steven Erikson's magnum opus, The Malazan Book of the Fallen, sits in pole position as the very best and most ambitious epic fantasy saga ever written. And believe you me: It won't be easy to dethrone." And there's also a re-read blog ongoing on the Tor Books website. One of the people taking part is new to the series and said of Gardens of the Moon: "I started the novel with confusion and no little frustration as people I didn’t know had conversations I didn’t understand. But then gradually my understanding expanded, my desire to know more about the world grew and I immersed myself more fully in GotM. By the time the big finale came, I was a little bit in love with virtually all the characters, and I definitely don’t want to get off this ride!"

Start with The Redbreast then, in order, Nemesis, The Devil's Star, The Redeemer, The Snowman and The Leopard

Brilliant show

68% through The Leopard

I'm sure Pickle will have plenty of suggestions, but with Jo Nesbo they are definitely better read in order: The Redbreast Nemesis The Devil's Star The Redeemer The Snowman The Leopard With Lee Child I don't think it matters so much, but if you want to start with one of the better ones try 'Killing Floor', 'The Enemy' or 'Die Trying'.

Probably not a bad idea!

Grumble grumble

Jo Nesbo