15/06/2007

Have just finished The Sad Variety – by Nicholas Blake. One of the forgotten detective authors of the 20th Century I feel. He was actually the poet Cecil Day Lewis and his books are generally beautifully written. This was not one of his best, but he did somehow manage to mention people living together and gay life as a normality, about 40 years before any other detective writer dared to!
I am now starting another old Green Penguin, Ellery Queen – The Door Between.

13/06/2007

I have finished Flying Under Bridges - not sure about it now - it seemed to keep promising something profound & suddenly turning into a Stand Up comedy sketch. I did enjoy it - but was just left feeling a little disappointed, as if, if she'd dug a bit deeper she could have done something really wonderful...................

11/06/2007

I am reading Flying under Bridges - by Sandi Toksvig and enjoying it!

30/05/2007

Just read the 2 books Jill Paton Walsh constructed from the notes & unfinished manuscripts of DL Sayers - never been a big fan of people picking up and running with other people's characters - but recently read the Campion books that Margery Allingham's husband finished/wrote after her death.It is interesting to see where the original author was planning to take the characters - in neither case, unfortunately do the books have the same brilliance - but they were worth reading.

Now what next? I'm finely poised - the excitement at bedtime tonight will be perusing the shelves and pouncing on that unsuspecting book which is just waiting to be read.

24/05/2007

Since Sign of the Cross - I have read: Charles Cumming - The Hidden Man ( Malice box prize again) and excellent - hailed as a new John Le Carre - and I can see why - has some promise as a spy writer.2 Candace Robb Owen Archer books - Ellis Peters-ish and quite good.Am now reading Bernard Cornwell - Crackdown - excellent as have been all his I've read........

18/05/2007

I have just read Sign Of The Cross was excellent - finished it a few days ago - was part of my Malice Box prize.

18/04/2007

And here it is! The list for your delectation & assassination! bearing in mind I had to chose stuff that was in print and get it to add up to £50 ...

1 Bernard Cornwell – Crackdown 9780140177251 £7.99
2 Chris Kuzneski – Sign of the Cross 9780141030845 £6.99
3 Mark Twain – Can Cans, Cats and Cities of Ash 9780141025568 £4.99
4 Nick Stone – Mr Clarinet 9780141021089 £6.99
5 Charles Cumming - The Hidden Man 9780140294774 £7.99
6 P G Wodehouse - Right Ho Jeeves 9780140284096 £6.99
7 Janet Evanovich – One for the money 9780140252927 £7.99

Second Choices:
1 Anne Bronte – Agnes Grey 9780140621082 £1.99
2 Janet Evanovich – Two for the Dough 9780140255553 £7.99
3 P G Wodehouse - Money For Nothing9780140124552 £6.99
4 Charles Cumming - The Spanish Game 9780141017839 £7.99
5 P G Wodehouse - Cocktail time 9780140085051 £.699

15/04/2007

And rather suprisingly I have today received an email telling me I have won £50 worth of penguin books in the Malice Box Quest game!!! I guess another prize winner must have dropped out or not responded or something! Have to email with a choice of books by the 20th......ooo err - this is exciting!!!

I have to choose from anything on the Penguin website - so I presume stuff that is in print! To the value of £50!!!Haven't looked yet - saving it for later!!!

03/04/2007

Well now - in the last week I have read: S is for Silence - Sue Grafton - probably her best yet. Jean Potts - Death of a Stray Cat - Pamela Branch - Lion in the Cellar (old green penguins - luvverly) - Nicholas Blake - The Whisper in the Gloom - and am currently rereading a Dick Francis - Wild Horses.Strangely no one seems to buy or read Dick Francis now - I sometimes have a Dick Francis fest and hide in a corner for 10 days and read nearly all of them back to back. I do this with Margery Allingham too.

14/03/2007

I find with books like Harry Potter and the Da Vinci Code that it is difficult to read them with a balanced view - because there is so much hype about them. Personally I like the Harry Potter books and thoroughly enjoyed them (though I haven't read the last one yet....)

03/03/2007

Well just finished the Peter Robinson - In a Dry Season - & it was excellent - certainly will read some more.Glad I've found Peter Robinson as have read more or less all of Ian Rankin’s and was a bit stuck. Not of course to be confused with Iain Banks I tried reading the Wasp Factory a couple of years ago & it was just too weird for me - gave up on it - but I feel I ought to give it another go sometime.

I have started another Peter Robinson.

28/02/2007

I'm a great fan of Alexander McCall Smith. I think I've read most of his; the Precious Ramotswe books and the Edinburgh ones. 44 Scotland Street was excellent and there is a sequel to it called Espresso Tales.

24/02/2007

Ah well I finished the Sara Paretsky ( I stopped in the middle to read Carbonel) and now am reading Mr Campion's Falcon - One of the books Margery Allingham's husband wrote from her notes after she died.He is not as good a writer as she was, but I am curious to see where she planned to take him........Might try Peter Robinson next - picked another one up today...........

16/02/2007

I have started an online game from Penguin books called Malice Box Quest - it is based around a book which is to be released shortly. It is great fun but taking up a huge amount of time.............

14/02/2007

Now I am a big Agatha Chrisie fan - I have different favourites according to my mood as I do reread them!! Death on the Nile I think is one - I had to buy another copy of it to read while I was cruising down the Nile in 4 star luxury when I was backpacking 12 years ago. ( Got it very cheap - no tourists about that year - it was a 'terrorist year') The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is another that is excellent - Dumb Witness - & the Middle Eastern Ones - Murder in Mesopotamia ( which is reputedly about a real person she couldn't stand) .....* It being the Nile cruise - actually the book probably cost more than the cruise! (not quite).

On the other hand The Clocks is not one of her best, and the worst by far is Destination Unknown – aptly named, it appears to go nowhere - it is most peculiar - seems to finish in the middle. Don't read it!Think I'm going to try Peter Robinson.

13/2/07

I'm reading Hard Times - Sara Paretsky.....Not many of hers left to read either now.

12/02/2007

Jane Eyre & Rebecca and Gone with the Wind are supposed to be the 3 books that every woman reads ....I wonder if they are?

All made into wonderful TV series and famous films etc – but you should read the books first. All are superior in every way to the films. As is the book Showboat - which is a wonderful and much under- rated book - and nothing like any of the films....

11/02/2007

Also worth reading with similar sort of logic subplot is the Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martinez. Actually don't know really why this strikes me as being in the same genre - but it does - and is excellent.

Personally, in terms of modern thrillers, I don't think anyone has surpassed John Le Carre - or ever will. His Smiley books are superb - and would probably be on my short-list for if I could only read one book again ( a 3 in 1 edition of the Tinker Tailor Trilogy). I have also just read his latest book, Absolute Friends, which was similarly excellent.

10/02/2007

Today I have been discussing my least favourite author and books. So here is my nomination. Portrait of a Lady - Henry James - what is it about please? It seems so d*mn obvious to me what is going to happen - & it all happens so slowly. Awful -struggled to the end in the hope that something would happen to surprise me and show some subtlety, shed a new light on human nature etc etc - and nope - nothing did! vowed never to read Henry James again – and I haven’t!
On the other hand I have recently read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night and, yes it was excellent - I sort of started reading it with my detective story reading head on - which actually made it more entertaining because there is a spoofy sort of element in there as well.

06/02/2007

I'm reading The Man with the Cane by Jean Potts ...nice old green penguin crime.I wonder if Peter Robinson is any good? I've sold a couple and have been tempted by the blurb - but not read any yet...

21/01/2007

Oh just been talking about the glorious Falco!!! Sadly, sadly even with severe rationing I have now read them all and am up to date - I think there is a new one out in hardback - but I'm a paperback gal - hardbacks take up too much space - so I'll wait for it in paperback. Falco has got to be one of my all-time favourite detectives, certainly on a par with Kinsey Millhone…..not sure he would overtake Albert Campion though, who I still think comes top of my list.

I have lent a couple of the early Lindsey Davis Falco books to a non-detective novel reading friend recently, who has decided she quite likes them…

I'm thinking of breaking my own embargo on buying for me and getting the last Sue Grafton that came out in paperback recently S is for Silence - as I am in the same situation with Kinsey Millhone - but I might wait a bit longer for that one....

21/1/07

Well I've just finished Sara Paretsky's V I for Short - which was excellent.


I am currently reading about 10 books a week - and I haven't decided what to read next. Still got loads to go at from my buying frenzy on ebay last year.

03/01/07 -

Well I think I should say I think the Da Vinci Code was a reasonably good thriller, though I'm afraid it was all a tiny bit too obvious for me - but then I've read a lot of thrillers - and many which manage to disguise flying the homicidal monk to Britain a lot better.
I mean it was far more transparent (ie I had the villain tagged quite early) than a lot which don't get all the hype. I think that it was the subject matter that grabbed the headlines. I solved most of the clues quite easily.

What I mean by “disguising flying the homicidal monk to Britain” is that if you manage to pick out that it is totally pointless to do this - then I'm afraid it takes but a few short steps to work out what the point is - then it all breaks open ...........

It did have tremendous pace and excitement though.