Remembered Death by Agatha Christie. I was surprised to find out that it is the book also known as Sparkling Cyanide. I have the Agatha Christie Mystery Collection blue leatherette edition of the first, and have been trying to find an affordable copy of the second–guess I don’t have to worry about that no more! It’s the second time they’ve done it to me, too. I forked out for both The Sittaford Mystery and Murder at Hazelmoor, which are the same book.
I am also in the middle of the second movement of Anthony Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time. Why are these books not enormously famous and popular? It’s sort of like Proust, but taking place in Bertie Wooster’s world. It’s wonderful.
And also, today I received, began, and finished Better Than Beauty: A Guide to Charm. My mother gave me that.
I expended more effort avoiding reading projects in high school than I would have if I had just read the assigned books. It’s amazing I graduated at all.
I hated English class. For the life of me, I don’t remember why. I’ve always enjoyed reading; always had a book on the go.
I may be 20 years older than the typical first time classics reader. I am catching up, however.
In the last few months I’ve read Of Mice and Men and Grapes of Wrath. I’m currently reading East of Eden.
A friend of mine lent me Innumeracy on Saturday. It should be interesting reading. I’m also on a bit of a Jane Austen kick. I finished Persuasion on Saturday and liked it well enough, but the title character of Emma is getting on my nerves.
Sattua, let me know what you think of Remembered Death. I read it recently and I’d like to talk to someone about it.
I just read this and am now reading one of her other ones…but only because I need some words to rub my eyes against for a few days before I get the chance to go back to some real reading. I can’t decide if she’s trying to be Dave Barry or Erma Bombeck, but it doesn’t much matter, since she’s failing miserably. IMHO.
I was planning on starting a new one of these, but what the heck…
Am just finishing
. This third installment of Dean Koontz Odd series is better than the second and possibly as good as the first. I do admit that I am somewhat reminded of some of the reviewer’s comments of Lucky Number Slevin, that said it was too glib. Much of the dialong is rather glib, but much like in Slevin, this didn’t diminish my enjoyment. Indeed, it is part of the fun for me. I agree that it makes the dialog a little less realistic - I have no doubt that the nuns and brothers of most spiritual retreats do not have the quickness of Koontz’s characters. But lets face it, if he protrayed them as they arre, we would be quickly bored.
The plot has been interesting, but I am nearly to the end and am a little fearful that he will wrap it up poorly. I will probably see tonight.
I am halfway through Simon Green’s Hell To Pay. It is typical of this series - which is admittedly all mind-candy, but none-the-less I enjoy it.
Nary a drop of blood anywhere, just chills and a feeling of dread that stays with you when you’re finished reading.
I went searching for the DVD of the movie, which was directed by Herbert Wise (!), screenplay by Nigel Kneale (!) but it’s out of print. No used ones either, and Hill’s site says the copies at Amazon and e-bay are bootlegs. (How would she know?) And Netflix doesn’t have it. I thought Netflix had everything.
There’s a stage play, but I’m not in London.
Dung Beetle, it’s a guaranteed good read. I’ve noticed that we like lots of the same kind of books, so I feel safe recommending this.
Yeah, I feel pretty safe taking your recommendations.
Between the mention of The Woman in Black and RickJay’s Long Walk thread*, I suddenly recalled that I’d always meant to read Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White, so I’ve got that coming from the library too.
a character in the book names the Collins book as his all-time favorite.
I just finished Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. It’s outstanding – one of the better nonfiction books I’ve read in a good long while.
I also finished Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses over the holidays; and I’ve since ordered the rest of the Border Trilogy. He’s simply a great, great writer – one of my favorites (gotta get The Road on my list, too).
Now I’m trying to get into Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon, but having limited success. The only other Pynchon title I’ve read is Mason & Dixon, which was a pleasantly challenging book (and more challenging than pleasant, at times). I’ve read and enjoyed immensely much of Neal Stephenson’s recent work (of which I’m reminded by Pynchon’s), and must remind myself that it took some initial effort for me to get into each book in the Baroque Cycle.
I’m also about 60 pages into Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited and enjoying that quite a lot. I’ve not read any Waugh at all before now.
I’ll get in line for The Woman in Black (another recommendation from here, Auntie Pam, that you continue your recommendations).
I have a little anecdote that amuses and bemuses me, and is relevant to the thread (!) I was reading my current book and it describes how the main character holds a piece of glistening material the people around him have never seen before, and it left me thinking, wow, I wonder what it is, and I can’t wait until they explain what that was all about!
This was about the same time it dawned on me why Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith might have named their kids Jaden and Willow. :smack: :smack: Man am I slow on the uptake–Jaden must be seven by now.
After the wonderful Woman in Black, I read Five Mile House by Karen Novack. Blech. Competent writing, style-wise, but scanty characterization and sloppy plotting.
But the bad taste of that book was more than erased by the wonderful Black Swan Green by David Mitchell. A year in the life of a 13-year old boy, and what a year it was. I love this kid. I’ll be reading more Mitchell.
On to The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams, which I’m enjoying muchly. Very rich in setting and characterization, so far. And I’m thinking the plot won’t be too dense.
I just finished S. M. Stirling’s The Sky People, and am about to launch into David Weber’s Off Armageddon Reef. Then it will be back to Stirling for The Peshawar Lancers, which I bought when it came out but never got around to reading.
Hey, AP, I read that at your suggestion. I really enjoyed it.
Now I’m reading Storm Front by Jim Butcher (the first of the Dresden Files books).
And I just got a ginormous stack of books from the library, including:
The Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop The Mabinogion Tetrology by Evangeline Walton (suggested to me a long time ago by a Doper, but my library didn’t have it until recently) The Darkness That Comes Before by R Scott Bakker The Oracle Betrayed by Catherine Fisher The Ill-Made Mute by Cecilia Dart-Thornton
I’ve never read anything quite like Black Jewels. I really liked it. Heavy emotional stuff going on, erotic, even. I’m starting to sweat just thinking about it.
The Bakker book – it took a couple of tries before I got into it, but I’m glad I didn’t give up.
I have taken the plunge into Live Journal, but only to write reviews of books as I read them: shoshanapnw.livejournal.com and I’ve reviewed my first 7 book for 2007. I’m about to start Terri Jentz’s Strange Piece of Paradise right…now!
