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Post by tillystar on Nov 23, 2009 9:35:02 GMT
I finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo over the weekend as it was just hard to stop, so addictive!
I had another book lined up which I thought wouldn't be so good after that, but it is also gripping and I am snatching any moment I can to read it. The Bolter is a biography of Idina Sackville, written by her great-grandaughter frances Osbourne. It is hard not to get caught up in the decadent London social scene before WWI and the Idina's scandalous life in Kenya's Happy Valley, 5 marriages and lots of love affairs. All this already and I am only on about page 40!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2009 11:06:05 GMT
"The Bolter" is on my list Tilly. There was some discussion of it in this section somewhere. It sounded fascinating. You Brits are pretty racy,eh? That's the kind of book I know I would devour.
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Post by spindrift on Nov 23, 2009 11:15:31 GMT
Tilly - have you read White Mischief? Set in Kenya in the Happy Valley days. By the time I got there in the 1970s only the remants of that lifestyle were left, however some of the original families still live in Naivasha (one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen). The Delamere family is firmly entrenched.
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Post by tillystar on Nov 23, 2009 11:24:21 GMT
I haven’t read it but thanks for the tip as I am so hooked on this book I’d like to follow it up a bit. I did think of you when I was reading it last night. I wondered what it was like when you were in Kenya and if you had seen any of that life...thinking maybe that was why you loved it there so much
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Post by spindrift on Nov 23, 2009 11:42:04 GMT
No, I was too late for that but in any case I would not have been invited because I'm not titled and I was married to an Indian! I'm pretty sure that lot didn't mix with Indians in those days or probably not now either! Of course if one had met them in London doing the cocktail party circuit one might have been invited. Especially of course if one was a girlfriend of one of them. That's for sure. The same lot are still on the go in London and on their country acreages in England. I used to be on the edges of their society but to get into it you have to marry one of them. I had my chances (twice) but declined them. ;D
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 23, 2009 22:57:08 GMT
Coincidentally, the book I had ready to read next is also about the British upper classes. I love the title, but the first few pages didn't grab me, so I'll try again later. I finished the latest Lee Child with a feeling of mild disappointment. He writes so well, the suspense is so good, his main character is interesting, but ........... I dunno, the plot was just too far-fetched somehow, plus he brought in torture, and I didn't have that feeling of satisfaction I usually have after one of his books. After deciding I wasn't in the mood for Hunting Unicorns, I went after the blockbuster. Let me stop right here and say that if I hear a peep out of anyone on the order of, "I would never read a book by that model", I'll have to come over & smack you. This is not "that model". The author's name is Kate Moss e. I read her book Labyrinth and greatly enjoyed it. Sure, it's all mystical hoo-ha, but hugely enjoyable. She can write, but is falling into the romantic historical novel trap with the new book, Sepulchre. By that I mean the usual excessive crap writing: curls tumble, cheeks are flushed, and there is too much extraneous detail -- he doesn't put out the cigarette, he crushes it out in a cut glass ashtray on the windowsill. Still, it promises to be a good escapist romp, and she may calm down in a bit. (I haven't reached page 100 yet.)
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Post by traveler63 on Nov 24, 2009 3:25:25 GMT
I am just starting to read An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon. It is the 7th in her Outlander series. It is a long book over 800 pages. If you haven't read any of her books, they are great. I would say that they are a combination of history-romance-adventure-sci fi. They are about Claire Beauchamp and Jamie Fraser and there is time travel backwards involved. I have been waiting patiently for the next one. I am amazed at the amount of research she does. She lives here in Arizona, Scottsdale I think. I would say to anyone, this is one series that you should read in the order that she wrote them.
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Post by hwinpp on Nov 26, 2009 8:00:51 GMT
Believe it or not but last night I read the inflight magazines of Dragon Air and Thai Air before going to bed. I'm getting desperate.
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Post by tillystar on Nov 26, 2009 9:27:21 GMT
Bixa, I did exactly the same with Hunting Unicorns.
When I got round to reading the book it was very different from what I had initially thought - much lighter. I did enjoy it on the second start!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2009 12:05:25 GMT
I am still savoring A.S. Byatt's,The Children's Book. I just finished a long section which describes the Grand Exposition in Paris in 1889-1900. The descriptions are just incredible. The recently christened Metro,Lalique,Rodin and all the various artists of the period from around the world. Positively magnificent.
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Post by bjd on Nov 30, 2009 10:19:03 GMT
Last night I finished Joseph Roth's The Radetzky March. He was a German-speaking writer/journalist in the early 20th century from the then Austro-Hungarian Empire. The book follows a family whose destruction mirrors that of Austria-Hungary just before WW1. It's a novel, but before it, I read his What I Saw, a series of essays from Germany, mostly Berlin, in the 1920s, before he left for France. Interesting stuff and I think I preferred it to the novel.
Now, I'll start Vol 3 of Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2009 15:21:55 GMT
Have yet to get to Ms. Dunnett. I finally located her first. Am looking forward to.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 30, 2009 17:55:42 GMT
I dropped everything to start on "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest", the third in the Stieg Larsson trilogy.
It's extremely satisfying except for the necessary spying exposition part at the beginning. That's really only my problem, as spy stuff makes me instantly glaze over. However, this book absolutely could not be read without having read at least the second one. It's my feeling that Larsson intended them to all be released at the same time in order to be read in essence as one book.
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Post by tillystar on Dec 3, 2009 14:14:09 GMT
Ha ha I have been at lunchtime to buy the second one - The Girl who Played with Fire.
I am really looking forward to my train journey home!
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 3, 2009 16:28:34 GMT
I read about Steig Larsson on the internet. He said that Salander is based on his vision of a grown up Pippi Longstocking! I love Salander -- she has become one of my favorite characters in literature.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2009 2:10:10 GMT
I have at long last finished A.S. Byatt's new novel aforementioned,The Children's Book.Did not want for it to end,700 pages of sheer brilliance. I am a huge fan of hers. I would highly recommend,would make a lovely gift as well. I am onto Dorothy Dunnett next,the first in the Niccolo series at BJD's recommendation a while back. Finally,located a copy.
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Post by tillystar on Dec 15, 2009 8:51:39 GMT
Great idea Casimira, I am not a fan of Byatt but my Mum is. Its on the Christmas list!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2009 13:15:07 GMT
Great idea Casimira, I am not a fan of Byatt but my Mum is. Its on the Christmas list! Yes,fans will love,and stay out of your hair for 700 pages!
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 15, 2009 15:09:38 GMT
I finally abandoned Sepulchre, even though I was fairly close to the end. Geez, she couldn't write anything without larding on the romantic novel catch-phrases. It's a library book, so I figured I'd better quite before I ripped it in two or set it on fire or something.
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Post by tillystar on Dec 15, 2009 16:47:28 GMT
Great idea Casimira, I am not a fan of Byatt but my Mum is. Its on the Christmas list! Yes,fans will love,and stay out of your hair for 700 pages! Ha! I have just ordered her that and Wolf Hall. Looks like I am going to have a very peaceful January ;D
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Post by tillystar on Dec 15, 2009 16:48:02 GMT
;D ;D ;D
I got a great image of you dancing round a bonfire watching it burn!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 1, 2010 20:47:53 GMT
In anticipation of my trip to Miami in a couple of weeks I have begun reading Peter Matthiessen's "Killing Mr. Watson",part 1 of a trilogy about murder and intrigue in the Everglades. He's such a fabulous writer and his intimate knowledge of the environs is a real plus.
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Post by bjd on Jan 3, 2010 13:28:49 GMT
I just picked up some short stories by Paul Theroux. Not that great -- I think he is better as a travel writer. During my vacation, I read White Mischief about a murder in Kenya's Happy Valley crowd in the 1940s, a detective story by a French writer called Fred Vargas bought at the airport in Toulouse. I left the last two with my son who needed stuff to read. I also found a detective story on a shelf in a hotel in Cartagena -- the title and author escape me but it's a series about a foppish detective person in Miami (McNally?).
I had ordered the 3 last books of the Dorothy Dunnet Lymond books for my return, but they screwed up and vol 4 hasn't arrived yet.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 3, 2010 17:35:43 GMT
While visiting my mother I found a copy of World Without End on a bookshelf. Strangely, I'd never heard of it. My mother & stepfather had not read it either, nor did they realize they had it. This is the sequel (sort of -- it's 200 years later) to Pillars of the Earth, and it's great stuff. I was enthralled immediately and must find a copy in order to finish reading it. This review is for an abridged audio compact, but serves the book quite well. Meanwhile I am reading a book that was lent to me, "Cutting for Stone" by Abraham Verghese. It takes place in Ethiopia in the mid 1950s. Verghese's prose doesn't really sing, but there is an element of sincerity that really pulls one into the plot and characters. The location and history are fascinating, although there is a great deal of medical detail . I definitely recommend this book.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2010 22:57:38 GMT
I have heard so much about "White Mischief",I need to get a hold of it. I received a couple of gift certificates to two different book stores and keep forgetting to put them in my bag, I also would like to get that new Ishiguro book "Nocturnes" mentioned on here. I'm not doing real well with this Matthiessen book. I'm finding it too Hemingwayesque for me. I really hate being in between books,particularly if I really loved the previous read.I can't do fluff like I used to.
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Post by bjd on Jan 4, 2010 9:05:28 GMT
I was a bit disappointed with White Mischief. It was less about life in Kenya and more about the writer's search for the culprit. It's alright as a holiday read, but I would have preferred to get it from a library than to buy it -- even so I bought it second-hand on Amazon.
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Post by tillystar on Jan 4, 2010 10:00:26 GMT
Glad you enjoyed what you read and really hope you can get a copy soon. Can I gloat? Mr Star knows that Pillars of the Earth is my favorite book and when World without End was published in hardback a couple of years ago just before my birthday he queued and got a signed copy for me I love them as both books are just such good stories. Nothing fancy, no trying to be clever, just brilliant storytelling. I just started Sarah Waters "The Little Stranger" on the way to work this morning, it seems ok for the first couple of chapters but I was too distracted by frozen fingers to really get into it.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2010 11:00:23 GMT
I just got turned on to Sarah Waters recently and really enjoyed her quite a lot. Fill us in on this one Tilly,ok? I'm looking for a stock pile of new stuff to purchase with these gift certificates
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 4, 2010 17:02:33 GMT
Oh, Tilly ~~ that was a coup on Mr.Star's part. He really is your handsome prince!
A question, Tilly (or anyone) ~~ you seem to buy most of your books. Do you not have easy access to a library, or is it just too much hassle with work, small child, etc.?
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Post by existentialcrisis on Jan 6, 2010 9:31:22 GMT
Since it's a new year, I feel I should probably make an attempt to be literate again, and try to read a little every day ... so difficult!
Right now am (re)reading: The Voice - Gabriel Okara. I found this when I was home over Christmas and remember it from my post-colonial African lit course. I believe it was a good read, and it's a short easy read so I'm starting with this. Then maybe I can get back to reading my book about the evolution of human consciousness... or... *gasp* Atlas Shrugged, which I believe I'm having sent to me in Calgary so that it may continue to haunt me.
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