frankie Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 I've heard of that novel but didn't know what it was about - sounds like a darling story We want pictures of book jar! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted August 4, 2015 Share Posted August 4, 2015 Esio Trot was such a great story! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian Posted August 4, 2015 Author Share Posted August 4, 2015 I've heard of that novel but didn't know what it was about - sounds like a darling story We want pictures of book jar! I'll try and get one on here - always have problems with photos! And I should confess; I didn't have any actual jars available at the time, so at the moment it's a tin that used to have tea in it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian Posted August 4, 2015 Author Share Posted August 4, 2015 Esio Trot was such a great story! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Glad you thought so, Gaia. I logged it on Goodreads, and I was quite shocked with all the very negative reviews for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 Glad you thought so, Gaia. I logged it on Goodreads, and I was quite shocked with all the very negative reviews for it. I don't understand that at all to be honest . I liked it . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian Posted August 13, 2015 Author Share Posted August 13, 2015 Lady Audley's Secret - By Mary Braddon The flaxen-haired beauty of the childlike Lady Audley would suggest that she has no secrets. But M.E. Braddon’s classic novel of sensation uncovers the truth about its heroine in a plot involving bigamy, arson and murder. It challenges assumptions about the nature of femininity and investigates the narrow divide between sanity and insanity, using as its focus one of the most fascinating of all Victorian heroines. Combining elements of the detective novel, the psychological thriller and the romance of upper class life, Lady Audley’s Secret was one of the most popular and successful novels of the nineteenth century and still exerts a powerful hold on readers. My Thoughts I first came across Mary Braddon a couple of years ago. She was a contemporary writer with Dickens and Wilkie Collins, and was very popular at the time. This is her most well known book. It reads very easily,the language is simple and flows off the page - I found it pretty similar to Wilkie Collins. The story is quite gripping too - and while it's fairly obvious what's going on and how it's all going to end, that doesn't detract from the enjoyment of the book. The lead female characters are all strong, which does make a change from some Victorian fiction. I downloaded this free from Gutenburg onto my Kindle, so no problem getting hold of a copy 4/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 I'll try and get one on here - always have problems with photos! And I should confess; I didn't have any actual jars available at the time, so at the moment it's a tin that used to have tea in it! That's as good as any other jar! Mine's actually a cardboard box Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian Posted August 27, 2015 Author Share Posted August 27, 2015 The Cold Moon by Jeffery Deaver It's the night of the full Cold Moon - the month of December according to the lunar calendar. A young man is found dead in lower Manhattan, the first in a series of victims of a man calling himself the Watchmaker. This killer's obsession with time drives him to plan the murders with the precision of fine timepieces, and the victims die prolonged deaths while an eerie clock ticks away their last minutes on earth. Lincoln Rhyme, Amelia Sachs and the rest of the crew are tapped to handle the case and stop the Watchmaker and his partner, Vincent Reynolds, a repulsive character with a special interest in the female victims of the killer. Amelia is not only Lincoln's eyes and ears at crime scenes on the Watchmaker case, but she's now running her own homicide investigation-her first case as lead detective. The policewoman's unwavering efforts in pursuing the killers of a businessman, who left behind a wife and son, sets into motion clockwork gears of its own, with consequences reaching to people and events that will endanger not only many lives but Lincoln's and Amelia's future together. My Thoughts As ever, I read Deaver knowing that I'm going to get twists and turns and try to figure them out beforehand. As ever, I either don't get them, or if I do then I find that I've fallen into a double bluff trap. Excellent writing, good plotting and perhaps unusually for crime thrillers involving serial killers, a non-reliance on stomach-churning details to keep us turning the page. Really good stuff. 4/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian Posted August 29, 2015 Author Share Posted August 29, 2015 White Fang - by Jack London A classic adventure novel detailing the savagery of life in the northern wilds. Its central character is a ferocious and magnificent creature, half dog, half wolf, through whose experiences we feel the harsh rhythms and patterns of wilderness life among animals and men My Thoughts This book has some great memories for me. I first read it when I was about 12 years old. At that time (early 1980's), a bookshop that sold cheap paperbacks opened in Birmingham - on the corner between Rackhams & Lewis's for those that remember. I went in with my mom, and was immediately fascinated by the Classics section at the back. Three for a pound, and I got a pound pocket money. My first experience of the real pleasure a bookshop can bring. Did I buy White Fang then? Now that I can't remember, but if not, I certainly did buy it on a future visit. I was introduced to a lot of classic books thanks to that bookshop - and no I can't remember the name! I digress. I loved that White Fang then, and I find that I still love it. Jack London knew all about the wildness and beauty of the northern wilderness, and his descriptions really evoke the time and the place. Some books you read because of how they make you feel; White Fang for me is one of those books. 5/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian Posted September 22, 2015 Author Share Posted September 22, 2015 Das Boot (The Boat) by Lothar Gunther-Buchheim. It is autumn, 1941, and a German U-boat commander and his crew set out on yet another hazardous patrol in the Battle of the Atlantic. Over the coming weeks they must brave the stormy waters of the Atlantic in their mission to seek out and destroy British supply ships. But the tide is beginning to turn against the Germans in the war for the North Atlantic. Their targets now travel in convoys, fiercely guarded by Royal Navy destroyers, and when contact is finally made the hunters rapidly become the hunted. As the U-boat is forced to hide beneath the surface of the sea a cat-and-mouse game begins, where the increasing claustrophobia of the submarine becomes an enemy just as frightening as the depth charges that explode around it. Of the 40,000 men who served on German submarines, 30,000 never returned. Written by a survivor of the U-boat fleet, Das Boot is a psychological drama merciless in its intensity, and a classic novel of World War II. (taken from Goodreads) My Thoughts. Long before I knew this was a book, there was the film. In my opinion, one of the best war films ever made. Knowing that many of the things that happen in this book actually did happen make this book more horrific than some more graphic fictional book seem. What's impressive is the author's ability to not only articulate the fear and the tension of living and fighting on a submarine, but also the long periods of boredom. It stands as a great testament to the futility of war. The middle section dealing with finding and hunting the allied conveys are probably the best sections of the book. I have to admit that I found both the begining and the end sections a little over-long. The book, for me, could have lost 100 pages or so and not lost anything. 4/5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 I believe my boyfriend has this film on DVD. I didn't know it was based on a book. I'm glad you enjoyed it though it's a shame about the overly long sections. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolf woolf Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Both the book and the film seem enticing, which one would you recommend first? How many pages, circa, does the book have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 The film's good but the uncut version that was shown as a tv mini-series in the '80s is much better: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0001NIYUO?keywords=das%20boot&qid=1443015825&ref_=sr_1_2&sr=8-2 They cut about an hour and a half out of it for the version that was released as a movie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Boot#Versions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian Posted September 23, 2015 Author Share Posted September 23, 2015 The film's good but the uncut version that was shown as a tv mini-series in the '80s is much better: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0001NIYUO?keywords=das%20boot&qid=1443015825&ref_=sr_1_2&sr=8-2 They cut about an hour and a half out of it for the version that was released as a movie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Boot#Versions Oh I agree - the series was fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian Posted September 30, 2015 Author Share Posted September 30, 2015 The Black Country by Alex Grecian (Murder Squad 2) The British Midlands. It’s called the “Black Country” for a reason. Bad things happen there. When members of a prominent family disappear from a coal-mining village—and a human eyeball is discovered in a bird’s nest—the local constable sends for help from Scotland Yard’s new Murder Squad. Fresh off the grisly 1889 murders of The Yard, Inspector Walter Day and Sergeant Nevil Hammersmith respond, but they have no idea what they’re about to get into. The villagers have intense, intertwined histories. Everybody bears a secret. Superstitions abound. And the village itself is slowly sinking into the mines beneath it. Not even the arrival of forensics pioneer Dr. Bernard Kingsley seems to help. In fact, the more the three of them investigate, the more they realize they may never be allowed to leave. . . . (taken from Goodreads) My Thoughts When I read the first book in this series (The Yard) I did note some of the historical inaccuracies, but overall they didn't bother me as the story was very good and the characters were well drawn and likeable. Unfortunately, for his second book, the author chose to set it in the area I grew up in, so it was impossible for me to ignore those inaccuracies. The Black Country village of Blackhampton seems to have been based on some frontier town in the American mid-west. Grecian talks about the "Wilderness" beyond the villages main street. There simply wasn't any wilderness left in that area by 1890 - even the woods were given over to charcoal production. The winter storm seem ridculously severe, and if we are in the middle of a coal-mining district (a central plank of the plot), why do all the homes and public houses have log fires? The plot itself feels quite thin after the detailed richness of the first book. To be honest, finishing it was a bit of a chore. I dare say, I will still read the other books in the series, but I can't see me hurrying to do it. 2/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted September 30, 2015 Share Posted September 30, 2015 Oh dear! I've had The Yard sitting on the shelf for ages but I'd been completely put off reading it by all the comments about historical inaccuracies. Can't say this is particularly encouraging me to bother with it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian Posted September 30, 2015 Author Share Posted September 30, 2015 It's a shame, because the characters are genuinely engaging in the first book, which for me made up for the inaccuracies. Plus there were some nice twists that kept me interested. This book though - meh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raven Posted September 30, 2015 Share Posted September 30, 2015 Oh I agree - the series was fantastic. I'll third that! (and thanks for the link, Steve). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian Posted October 1, 2015 Author Share Posted October 1, 2015 Over the last couple of months, I decided to start using a book jar to help me pick the next book to read. I wanted to do this, as I was concious of the fact that I kept avoiding the book on the bottom of the pile in favour of those at the top. It was also taking me far too long, as I tried to deliberate which one I wanted to read. But I've also found that now, not only are my choices quicker, but it's actually quite exciting, wondering which book will come out of the jar. So now I have "The Keeper" by Luke Delaney. Not a writer or book I'd heard of, but I picked it up from the coffee room bookshelf at work. It looks like a standard police thriller, but what intrigued me is that the author is an ex-police officer with the met. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 I hope the book's good and the jar picked wisely! I agree, it's quite exciting! Coincidentally I just made myself a new book jar yesterday (I got rid of the first one for some reason... But wanted to try it again ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian Posted October 2, 2015 Author Share Posted October 2, 2015 I hope the book's good and the jar picked wisely! I agree, it's quite exciting! Coincidentally I just made myself a new book jar yesterday (I got rid of the first one for some reason... But wanted to try it again ) There have been a couple of occasions where I've picked a book out and thought "really?" and been tempted to put it back in. I've resisted that though; it defeats the object. The only time I've chosen again was two books ago. The jar picked Matilda by Roald Dahl, but that's my daughter's book and we'd just emptied her room to paint it and there was NO way I was going looking for it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian Posted October 9, 2015 Author Share Posted October 9, 2015 The Keeper by Luke Delaney The second novel in the DI Sean Corrigan series—authentic and terrifying crime fiction with a psychological edge, by an ex-Met detective. Perfect for fans of Mark Billingham, Peter James and Stuart MacBride. DI Sean Corrigan is different to most cops. He’s no psychic, but his own dark past has given him the ability to step into a crime scene and see it through the eyes of the offender. He understands what drives a person to commit murder, rape, arson—but sometimes his gift seems more like a burden. When the brutally murdered body of a young woman is found in the woods, Corrigan and his team are on the case. But this is not the act of a one-time offender. They’re on the trail of someone who has been taking women from their homes and keeping them captive before disposing of their bodies. This killer is looking for the perfect woman—and when he finds her, he’s going to keep her. Whether she likes it or not... (taken from Goodreads) My Thoughts I'd not read anything by this author before, but what grabbed my attention was the fact that this was written by an ex-policeman. Great, I thought, this will feel realistic and have details about how the police really investigate murders. While the latter is partly true however, the author seems more interested in delving into the mind of the perpretrator and throwing in lurid details. Yes, it was still a cut above - I actually felt some sympathy for the perpretrator at times, when details of his troubled past were revealed, but the other characters, including the main protaganist, DI Sean Corrigan, felt a bit cliched and two-dimensional in comparison. Every character who isn't in the police is treated with suspicion which got old quite quickly, where as Sean Corrigan is almost psychic in his ability to think like the murderer, because of his own troubled past. I like characters that are almost perfect (Jack Reacher) and I like troubled cops (John Rebus), but this felt like neither. A shame 2/5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian Posted October 21, 2015 Author Share Posted October 21, 2015 The Son - Jo Nesbo Sonny Lofthus, in his early thirties, has been in prison for the last dozen years: serving time for crimes he didn't commit. In exchange, he gets an uninterrupted supply of heroin—and the unexpected stream of fellow prisoners seeking out his uncanny abilities to soothe and absolve. His addiction started when his father committed suicide rather than be exposed as a corrupt cop, and now Sonny is the center of a vortex of corruption: prison staff, police, lawyers, a desperate priest—all of them focused on keeping him stoned and jailed, and all of them under the thumb of Oslo's crime overlord, the Twin. When Sonny learns some long-hidden truths about his father he makes a brilliant escape, and begins hunting down the people responsible for the hideous crimes he's paid for. But he's also being hunted, by the Twin, the cops, and the only person who knows the ultimate truth that Sonny is seeking. The question is, what will he do when they've cornered him? (from Goodreads) My thoughts What a great book. After a couple of 'meh" books, this was just the thing to fire up my mojo again. I've read a few of the Harry Hole books by Nesbo, so I was a little unsure of a stand alone, but this was tightly plotted, with a great, flawed detective and an equally flawed anti-hero - the Son of the title. Despite him (The Son) being a drug addict and murderer, I ended up rooting quite heavily for him. There is a great twist at the end, which left me wanting more. 4/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian Posted October 21, 2015 Author Share Posted October 21, 2015 For my next read, I'm leaving the book jar method - it's getting close to Halloween, so I've got The Complete Works of H.P.Lovecraft on my Kindle to get me in the "spirit" of things! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 Nice review! I thought I had The Son but it seems I don't. I do own other books by the author. I hope you enjoy the works of H. P. Lovecraft, I've read The Call Of Cthulhu which I thought was nice, but I haven't yet read any of the other short stories. I do own a couple of omnibusses with a lot of his stories. I'll be interested to see what you make of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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