Books Books Books

I do like a book. I'm currently catching up with some of the latest by Stephen King. The "Bill Hodges" and "Holly Gibney" books are excellent.

You?

Hi J3mbo
I like a good book too. I've read the four Bill Hodges books and really enjoyed them. Have you read Stephen King's Billy Summers? It's very different to his previous books and I found I couldn't put it down!

Hi HollyH - yes Billy Summers was excellent! Others from his more recent list that I liked are...

The Institute
If it Bleeds
The three Gwendy books
Fairy Tale

Currently reading the novellas from The Bazaar of Bad Dreams.

Thanks Jmb3o I haven't come across the Gwendy books so I'look out for them. Apart from those I've read all Stephen Kings books except the short stories. I found I was always left wanting more with those.

I enjoy a wide range of fiction and some historical nonfiction. My favourite crimes series books are written by C.J. Sansom. The chief character is a
London lawyer in the time of Henry V111, who becomes involved in investigating a series of crimes Sansom's writing is so vivid you can smell the smells, hear the sounds and feel the heat and clamour of the streets of London.
For anyone who would like to know more about this series there is a great website----Fantastic Fiction----which lists all books by a particular author in chronological order with a precis for each.
It would be good if other people would join with J3mbo and me to recommend favourite books

Sorry J3mbo I typed your user name wrong(V)

No worries HollyH

Need a break from the short stories - will pick them up again. I think next up will be Patrick Stewart's - Making It So: A Memoir.

Is that the actor from Star Wars? Please let us know if you've enjoyed it.

That's him - well - Star Trek

Oops!! Well at least I got the Star bit right.

Start Trek : The Next Generation. Captain Jean-Luc Picard

And many many other things!

I have just finished reading "The Year of the locust" by Terry Hayes.
The following is taken from the dust jacket of the book, because quite honestly there is so much action I don't know where to start.

If, like Kane, you're a Denied Access Area spy for the CIA. Then boundaries have no meaning. Your function is to go in,do whatever is required, and get out again by whatever means necessary.You know when to run, when to hide - and when to shoot..
But some places don't play by the rules and are too dangerous even for a man of Jane's experience. The badlands are such a place where the borders of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan meet.
Kane travels there to infiltrate a man with information vital for the safety of the West-- but instead he meets an adversary who will take the world to the brink of extinction. A frightening, clever, vicious man with blood on his hands and vengeance in his heart.
The Year of the Locust is a voyage to a far off land to see something no one has ever seen before. A mission to prevent the future happening. An encounter with true evil. And, ultimately, a moment when Kane must make the decision to save his own life-threatening or someone elses.
.. *******************************

Oops!! Hit the post button by mistake.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's an exciting roller coaster of a read. An unputdownable blood and thunder thriller written by a former journalist who is a multi award winning screen writer. His only other book is "I am Pilgrim" It's years since I read that, but it's the kind of book that stays with you.It has been a very long, but worthwhile wait (10yrs) for this latest one.

Sounds good - now on the list

A novel I enjoyed recently is" THERE IS A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT" written by David M Barnett, who was born in Wigan but now lives in Yorkshire.
This is the story of a young man Martin who, after leaving university, drifts through life until, one day, three life changing events happen. At a loss as to what do do with his life he spots an advert for a lighthouse keeper on a private island off the coast of Wales. Encouraged by a motherly neighbour he applies for the post and is successful.
After training he lives alone and isolated except for monthly deliveries and the one day each year when the island is open to visitors. Martin learns to enjoy his solitude and comes to love the island and its wildlife. One day a teacher, Gayle, brings her class to the island to see the lighthouse. Martin and Gayle were a couple at university but afterwards went their separate ways. They recognise each other and reconnect.
It's a whimsical tale, beautifully written,warm, quirky and at times laugh - out - loud funny, about a man, a lighthouse and a seal called Bruce.

I've heard of this one and several good reviews.

Not really my cup of tea though. Unless there's an alien monster or wizard who rises up and threatens to rip the lighthouse off its rock

I didn't think this book would be to your taste. I really enjoyed it and maybe other people will too.
Happy reading everyone whatever your choice

Holly.

Yep - we can't all like the same stuff

A few weeks ago I watched an excellent ITVX drama series "PLATFORM 7" adapted from a novel by Louise Doughty. I wondered what other novels she has written and found ." FIRES in the DARK"
It begins in 1927 with the birth in rural Bohemia, of a son Emil, to Joseph, leader of a company of Coppersmith Gypsies and his wife Anna. Emil grows up during the Great Depression and the rise of the Nazis.
As the Nazis increasingly restrict and control Romany life,his family try to escape but are captured and sent to an internment camp. Emil escapes and the book tells his story until the Prague uprising in 1945.
The book isn't all about the Nazis and the Holocaust. The depictions of Romany life and it's culture and traditions during the peaceful inter-war years make fascinating reading.
"FIRES in the DARK" is an engrossing if at times harrowing read, meticulously researched, informative and unsentimental. It is estimated that about 500,000 Roma were killed in the Holocaust - we sometimes forget that they suffered too.
Doughty herself has Romany ancestry. Her great,great Grandfather was born to a Romany family who had emigrated to the U.K. in the mid 1800's.
She says" The Nazis only required a person to have 1/8 Romany blood to persecute them, so technically I would have qualified"

The book is now out of print but I found a used copy on the website
www.abebooks.co.uk which I often use to buy both new and used books at very reasonable prices. FIRES in the DARK cost £3.34 inclusive of postage.
Whatever your choice of book, happy reading,
Holly

Sounds like another interesting read Holly

Morning hollyH, I think Shardlake is to be shown on a Disney Channel soon. I too have loved the whole book series of C J Sansom. He has been ill for a while and I believe he was writing another Shardlake. Sadly I have been told that he died very recently. An excellent author.

Hello monome.
Yes I've heard the news of his death, such a sad loss.
The Shardlake series will be shown on Disney + tomorrow, Wednesday.
I don't subscribe to Disney but I don't think I would watch in any case. I have such strong images in my mind of Matthew Shardlake and Jack Barak that I wouldn't want to be disappointed.

Hello hollyH, I don’t subscribe either and feel I would be disappointed too. CJ Sansom is so descriptive you totally get the atmosphere he delivers. A film never seems to portray that and you always feel there’s something missing.

Hi monome. I wonder if you've read
The Devil in the Marshalsea by Antonia Hodgson.
Set in 1727, Thomas Hawkins is the son of a country clergyman who refuses to follow in his father's footsteps. Disowned by his family he moves to London where he enjoys a life of cards, wine and women until he loses all his money. Unable to pay his debts he is sent to the Marshalsea debtors prison where a friend pays for him to stay on the "Master's side".
Tom discovers that the last occupant of his room was murdered and the killer has never been caught. Most people believe Tom's roommate, the mysterious Samuel Fleet, is the killer. Told by the Prison Governor that he has a chance of early release if he finds the killer, Tom agrees to investigate.
As well as being a fast-paced, intriguing mystery that keeps you guessing to the end, the book tells of the terrible conditions suffered by the inmates of the " Common side" of the prison where the prisoners, who had no money or friends to help,were kept crammed into tiny cells. Suffering from starvation, disease and overcrowding they died at a date of up to twelve a day.
The book gives an insight into the terrible conditions in the original Marshalsea which was built in the Fourteenth Century, not the "new" one built in 1811 and which features in the books of Charles Dickens. The author's notes also state that many of the characters actually existed and are mentioned in the diary of John Grano, a debtor who spent a year in the prison from 1728 - 1729.
Holly

Still plodding through the Patrick Stewart 'Making it so' here. It's an interesting read but not exactly exciting. I think I'll go back to my Sci-Fi/Fantasy fiction for a book or two and pick it up later.

That's it - I've parked Mr Stewart for now and purchased the new Stephen King shorts "You like it darker?" Bring on the spooky stuffs!

Oh yes - this is excellent :)

Great! I've got to the stage where if a book doesn't hold my interest immediately I won't bother to read it. Life's too short to read something I don't enjoy when there are so many good books out there waiting to be read. I'm about 1/3 of the way through Stephen King's "Fairy Tale" and it's excellent.

Fairy Tale is another cracker :)

1/3rd of the way? You've some some great stuff to come

"Danny Coughlin's Bad Dream" from Stephen King's "You Like It Darker' - what a belter! Quite long for a short story. Best of the collection so far.

Apart from a short section about half way through where it flagged slightly, I really enjoyed ----- FAIRY TALE by Stephen King.
Seventeen year o!d Charlie Reade lives with his father, a recovering alcoholic, who turned to drink after his wife died in accident when Charlie was 10.
One day, on his way home from school, Charlie is passing the large run-down house of the elderly recluse Mr Bowditch when he hears a dog howling and a faint cry for help.The old man has fallen from a ladder and damaged his leg. Charlie takes in the dog Radar, visits Mr B. in hospital and helps care for him on his return home
When Mr Bowditch dies he leaves Charlie a cassette tape which tells a story no one would believe. In the locked shed in his garden is a Portal to another world. Charlie and Radar venture through the Portal and there the fairy tale begins.
I was really drawn into the world of Charlie, Mr Bowditch and Radar, the journey of the boy and his dog in the fairy tale world beyond the Portal, and the lives of the strange characters they find there. As the story unfolds it turns dark and horrifying, filled with evil and demons, but as in all fairy tales good wins out in the end
.

I'm glad you enjoyed in Holly. It reminded me a lot of The Talisman that he wrote with Peter Straub. If you haven't read that then I'd add it to your list for sure! The sequel Black House has a 'This World' setting and is more of a classix SK Horror but also excellent.

Yes J3mbo. I read and enjoyed both of those when they were first published many years ago.

Goody

There are rumours of a third installment!

Just started another Stephen King book that I've missed!

'Later' - seems to be a spooky one!

One of my old favourite horror writers was Dennis Wheatley, although they're very dated now, but the King of Horror is Stephen King.

I loved reading Carrie, and the film (with Sissy Spacek) was brilliant, but the best ever, for me, was The Stand (the original version). The mini-series that followed is excellent, and is available on You Tube. but it is in four parts, and just over four hours long, and well worth the watch. I've watched it so many times I know the script off by heart.

Yes The Stand is a classic. As with a lot of his books it has a great plot, great character building and a rushed ending :) He's said so himself.

I loved Stephen King's " THE DARK TOWER " series, but of his earlier work my favourite has to be " Misery " both the book and the film with the amazing, Oscar-winning performance by Kathy Bates as "Annie Wilkes"

Of his more recent books the one I've most enjoyed is, without doubt,
"BILLY SUMMERS". Not horror but crime, although very dark at times, with a side story of the Iraq war. After a slowish start it turns into a real page turner.

Billy is a decorated former Marine sniper turned hit-man but he will only kill really bad people. He has had enough of killing and wants to change his life, but is persuaded to carry out one final hit. What can possibly go wrong?

Oh yes - The Dark Tower is fantastic. And actually the first book was his earliest work. He just mothballed it for years! Then carried on. The only one I havn't read is the one he slotted in years later 'The Wind Through The Keyhole'.

Billy Summers is superb too!

I'm still reading 'Later' which is pretty good - and scary!

An odd thing happened after finishing 'Later' - I was thinking about the basic premise of a young boy and hisa sick vulnerable Mother.

So hear I am - reading The Talisman again

I hope you enjoy Talisman as much second time round.
I've just finished reading a novel by Abraham Verghese
"THE COVENANT OF WATER".
Set mostly in Parambil, a village in Kerala, India and spanning the years 1900-1977 it begins with the arranged marriage of Mariamma, a 12 year old girl, to a 40 year old widower with a young son. The Groom is shocked to see how young his bride is, but he takes the child into his home and cares for her until she is old enough to become a wife.
It's an epic tale (715 pages) which follows Big Ammachi, as she comes to be known, as she raises her family with the husband she has learned to love.
There are other strands to the story which seem totally unconnected, but which eventually come together and, although slow paced at times, the book never failed to hold my interest. All in all a good read.

Sounds like an interesting read that Holly!

It really was very interesting. As well as the story of Mariamma, running parallel are the stories of Digby Kilgour, a young Scottish doctor who joins the Indian Medical Services and Dr. Rune Orquist who devotes his life to caring for leprosy patients.
It also tells of flood and famine, how India became an Independent nation and the social and political change which followed.

So no Wizards, Aliens or Dragons then?

Sorry no, though I did try hard to find some for you !

Hehe - thanks Holly

The Talisman is going ok

GERALD SEYMOUR is a favourite author of mine. He has a very different style of writing that takes some getting used to. He tends to jump abruptly from one scenario to the next and nothing seems to be related but he gives his characters great depth and eventually all the threads come together. I've just re-read his excellent book "THE WALKING DEAD". and I quote from
the jacket.
" A young man starts a journey from a dusty village in Saudi Arabia. He believes it will end in his death in faraway England. For honour, for glory, for victory. If his mission succeeds, he will go to his God a martyr - and many innocents will die with him.
For David Banks, an armed police officer charged with neutralizing the growing menace to London's safety, his role is not as clear cut as it once was. The certainties which rule his thinking are no longer black and white. Banks has begun to realise that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. Never have these distinctions been more dangerous to a police officer with his finger on the trigger and to those who depend on him.
On a bright spring morning the two men's paths will cross. Before then, their commitment will be shaken by the journeys which take them there. The suicide bomber and the policeman will have equal cause to question the roads they've chosen --- win or lose neither will be the same again. "

I don't usually re-read books, life's too short, but I came across it again in the Library as I was looking for another of his books and I've enjoyed it just as much as the first time of reading.
Holly.

THE CASTAWAYS by Lucy Clarke.
Is a gripping story of two English sisters, Lori and Erin, on holiday in Fiji. They decide to take a trip to a luxury island resort, but the night before they are due to leave they have a terrible argument and Erin storms off and doesn't appear at the airport in time for the flight. Lori boards the plane alone, and she, as well as the seven other passengers and crew are never seen again, leaving Erin desperate to find out what happened to her sister.
The story is told by both Erin and Lori in a now and then timeline. Now, two years later, Erin still searching for her sister, and then, Lori telling the story of what happens to the people who boarded the flight.
Full of twists and turns it kept me engrossed right to the end. A really enjoyable read.

I saw this book reviewed on the book club programme " Between the Covers" and decided it could be one I might enjoy and so it was.

Sorry for an absence - I'm been "Up to stuff" and back to normal now.

Castaways - added to ther list!

I finished The Talisman and am now in the early stages of Blacj House. I remember now the rather odd start. But it's underway now that the murders are there and the associated horror!

You're tempting me to re-read them. Maybe I'll add them to my list which at the minute is 18 books long!

Really getting into the meat of Black House now. Must be the longest lead-in of any book I've read. It's superb stuff! Seems a lot more Stephen King than The Talisman.

Things are very busy here so slooooow progress with my reading! Still re-reading Black House. About 70% through and I never realised first time how very directly it links in with The Dark Tower. I suspect I wasn't very far along with TDT when I first read it!

Well - Black House is complete. WOW! What a horrorfest! And so many Dark Tower links in the last third of the book!

Next up is another SK I haven't read. 'Revival'

My latest good read is "ALL THE BROKEN PLACES" by John Boyne, his sequel to The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.

(From the jacket)
Gretel Fearnsby is a ninety year old woman living a quiet life. She doesn't talk about her escape from Germany over seventy years ago or the dark post-war years in France with her mother. Most of all she doesn't talk about her father, the Commandant of one of the most notorious Nazi concentration camps. But when a young family moves into the
apartment below her, Gretel can't help but befriend their little boy, Henry though his presence brings back painful memories.
One night she witnesses a violent argument between his parents, which threatens to disturb her hard-won peace.
For the second time in her life, Gretel is given the chance to save a young boy. To do so would allay her guilt, grief, and remorse, but it will also force her to reveal her true identity. Will she make a different choice this time whatever the cost to herself?
*******************
A beautifully written and thought provoking book. Initially I couldn't warm to the character of Gretel but as I read more I began to feel some sympathy for her situation.
In his author's notes John Boyne says that this is a novel about guilt, complicity and grief. A book that sets out how culpable a young person might be, given the historical events unfolding around her, and whether such a person can ever cleanse themselves of such a crime committed by the people she loved.He also states " I have less interest in the monsters than I do in the people who knew what the monsters were doing and deliberately looked away"

Sounds good Holly.

'Revival' is going ok. Usual SK start - lots of charcter development and scene setting. Also the usual subtle foreshadowing that all will not be happy times for long!

I've just read the review on Fantastic fiction and it looks good. I might give it a try. It's been a while since I scared myself to death with a Stephen King !!!!

I was suprised how scary I found Black House thsi time round. Imoriginally read it when it came out. I guess I was less sensitive back then haha!