val2525
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Post by val2525 on Sept 6, 2015 15:52:36 GMT
They're all pretty good, you can start anywhere. My favorites are the ones with Sid Halloway (I think that is his last name). but it's the only character I can think of that had more than one book. I'm partial towards series books. I haven't read a bad one yet, TBH, from DF. This latest one is apparently about technology (in horse racing, natch!) but the main cast doesn't really know about tech. I think actually it's a case of the co-writer knowing a lot personally about tech but dumbing it down for the book. The actual storyline and characters are good.
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Post by titus730 on Sept 6, 2015 16:21:15 GMT
I always enjoyed the horse racing mysteries by Dick Francis. Also the Lovejoy series by Jonathan Gash which feature a rakish antiques dealer.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2015 2:40:41 GMT
I always enjoyed the horse racing mysteries by Dick Francis. Also the Lovejoy series by Jonathan Gash which feature a rakish antiques dealer. I didn't know Lovejoy was in books! There was a British tv series about him in the 80s which was great. If you want to see some excellent 80s fashion it's bursting with it. It starred Ian McShane, who was still attractive then, in a dark and dangerous way. Maybe you'll get it on PBS one day?
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val2525
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Post by val2525 on Sept 7, 2015 3:45:33 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2015 4:02:17 GMT
Just finished reading Orphan Train by Kristina Baker Kline - it was an enjoyable quick read with a lot of history.
Currently I'm reading The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett - an older book but I try to wait until I can pick books up at the thrift.
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Post by titus730 on Sept 7, 2015 14:53:03 GMT
I watched the Lovejoy mysteries Miss Pettigrew! They were aired on one of the PBS stations. And they're available on Netflix and You Tube. The lady who played the noblewoman love interest also plays the housekeeper, Mrs. Hughes, in Downton Abbey.
I can recommend almost any novel by Ken Follett, especially the early thrillers. Eye of The Needle, Key To Rebecca, Lie Down With Lions.
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Shirley U Geste
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Post by Shirley U Geste on Sept 7, 2015 15:14:23 GMT
I just started Ripley Under Ground by Patricia Highsmith. I love her stuff and found it at Savers yesterday and realized it was one I had missed reading somehow.
Although she was American she is one of the most English writers I know. The name might not be familiar to some people but when you say Strangers on a Train then you know just what kind of writer she is.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2015 15:22:20 GMT
Yep, Shirley, she pops up on Amazon when I'm looking for mysteries. Haven't tried her yet.
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Shirley U Geste
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Post by Shirley U Geste on Sept 7, 2015 16:29:42 GMT
She wrote about 20 books MissPetti, and they are all great. Very psychological mystery/thriller type stuff.
If you are familiar with the books that Ruth Rendell wrote under the name Barbara Vine then you will know the style she writes in. Those are also favorites of mine along with Minette Walters. I have a lot of English writers on my favorites list.
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Post by titus730 on Sept 7, 2015 18:43:03 GMT
She wrote about 20 books MissPetti, and they are all great. Very psychological mystery/thriller type stuff. If you are familiar with the books that Ruth Rendell wrote under the name Barbara Vine then you will know the style she writes in. Those are also favorites of mine along with Minette Walters. I have a lot of English writers on my favorites list. I've read quite a few English mysteries including ones by Ruth Rendell, Michael Innes and Patricia Highsmith. Way back in the stone age, when I worked in Center City, I used to use a wonderful library branch on Rittenhouse Square. Their stacks were jam packed with great mysteries and other novels. When my father was alive and well he and I used to swap books all the time. He loved the African novels of Wilbur Smith.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2015 23:37:33 GMT
I love the Highsmith books and also love Ken Follet. I need to read the sequel to Pillar of the Earth.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2015 3:11:37 GMT
Has anyone read the Nero Wolfe books? I've never been a successful library-goer, except for the school ones. Public libraries have always been a drive away for me and my parents wouldn't take me, then I couldn't be bothered to take myself. Anyway the books smell funny.
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Post by titus730 on Sept 8, 2015 14:16:15 GMT
Never read Nero Wolfe or Ellery Queen. If you like mysteries with cats, and other animals, I suggest the Mrs. Murphy series by Rita Mae Brown and the series by Lilian Jackson Braun featuring a Siamese. They're whimsical.
Another mystery I recommend is Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin. It's set in medieval England and features a woman physician from Salerno, Sicily.
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val2525
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Post by val2525 on Sept 8, 2015 16:49:26 GMT
Nero Wolff books are excellent. I love Archie. I've probably read 80% of them.
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Post by chapeaunoir on Sept 9, 2015 3:45:26 GMT
Never read Nero Wolfe or Ellery Queen. If you like mysteries with cats, and other animals, I suggest the Mrs. Murphy series by Rita Mae Brown and the series by Lilian Jackson Braun featuring a Siamese. They're whimsical.
Another mystery I recommend is Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin. It's set in medieval England and features a woman physician from Salerno, Sicily.
Definitely I have to check that last one out! As I mentioned in the other book thread, because I chug through books pretty quick I have to sell to make room for others. The latest pile is 6 volumes of the Marcus Didius Falco ancient Rome gumshoe mysteries by Lindsay Davis. He's a bit of a weasel at the beginning with not a lot of redeeming qualities but some, and improves as the series progresses. They're good page-turners, though and some are really interesting. The author spits them out like watermelon seeds and she struggles with the tough guy lingo which sounds clownish - I don't think she's ever met any tough guys - but she's got great in-depth knowledge of ancient Rome and presents a good puzzle. I've also been reading the SPQR series by John Maddox Roberts, which I like better. Unfortunately, he rounded off the series at vol. 13 - I wish he'd write a few more - sorry if I'm repeating this one. I picked up a small pile of the Margery Allingham cozies on I think Miss Pettigrew's recommendation and am starting on those. When I had pneumonia and was stuck in bed most of the day I read about two books a day just to keep occupied and went through the Soldier of Rome series by James Mace - writing was OK to awful, but he means well, had some good characters, and he has done his homework about legionary life, so it's interesting from that POV and it did go along pretty well.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2015 4:31:41 GMT
Never read Nero Wolfe or Ellery Queen. If you like mysteries with cats, and other animals, I suggest the Mrs. Murphy series by Rita Mae Brown and the series by Lilian Jackson Braun featuring a Siamese. They're whimsical.
Another mystery I recommend is Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin. It's set in medieval England and features a woman physician from Salerno, Sicily.
That mediaeval one sounds interesting, but I draw the line at cat detectives. I think I'd find them too cutesy or I'd absolutely love them and become too CCL for my own good. Chap, I hope you like the Allinghams. Wikipedia can give you the reading order but that doesn't really matter as they're not really "series" books where you have to follow the character closely. "Tiger in the Smoke" is her famous one but I prefer "Hide My Eyes". They're both about creepy psychopaths. "The Fashion in Shrouds" and "Police at the Funeral" are my favourites from her earlier books, though lots of Amazon reviewers disagree with me there, lol. I should stagger out to the mailbox and see if my latest Michael Innes have arrived. Jeez, they're pricey, like $20+. But that includes shipping from the UK, so I suppose it's okay really. And at this very moment I'm in the middle of "The Lonely Earl", a Regency romance. The heroine has just stridently declared that the earl is a cruel, unfeeling, arrogant monster and he, standing outside the window, has heard her! Thrilling! What, oh what, will happen next???
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Post by titus730 on Sept 9, 2015 21:18:03 GMT
I read Mistress of The Art of Death years ago. Searching Amazon I discovered an entire series featuring the woman physician.
Miss Pettigrew, I read many of the Rita Mae Brown mysteries. They weren't too twee. But she's written some novels too. Some very good, some meh. Six of One was a particular favorite. It was the story of two sisters and their friends. Some parts were achingly funny. If I still had my very worn copy I'd read it again.
I'd also recommend Fortunes of War by Olivia Manning. There are two parts, The Balkan Trilogy and The Levant Trilogy. It's a story of an English bride who travels to Eastern Europe with her new groom at the beginnings of WWII. It was also adapted for Masterpiece Theater and is one of my favorite series.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2015 21:47:34 GMT
Let's Say - Best fiction book we have ever read?
Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2015 10:07:30 GMT
Roy, I couldn't possibly answer that. I couldn't even answer it broken down by genre. I could do it by author, but even then it'd be "top three", not "best". This is why I have a billion books and find it very hard to cull. Oh, wait! I can tell you my favourite Narnia book, if that qualifies? The Magician's Nephew.
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Post by titus730 on Sept 10, 2015 10:45:07 GMT
I also couldn't name one favorite book. But I loved the Chronicles of Narnia and read all seven books. As an adult.
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Post by Dawn R on Sept 10, 2015 12:23:34 GMT
I don't have a "best" book. It just depends on my mood.
To Kill a Mockingbird The Time Traveler's Wife The Green Mile/Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption The Handmaid's Tale Charolette's Web
Just a few.
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Post by chapeaunoir on Sept 11, 2015 0:12:54 GMT
I also couldn't name one favorite book. But I loved the Chronicles of Narnia and read all seven books. As an adult. Those aren't actually solely children's books. When I was minoring in theology in undergrad school I studied those along with other works of CS Lewis. They're similar to his Sci-Fi trilogy which can also be read on multiple levels - it's just that these are more accessible to a much wider audience. I've read and enjoyed The Chronicles of Narnia many times.
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Post by titus730 on Sept 11, 2015 20:56:53 GMT
Chap, when I began reading them I also researched C.S. Lewis. I was surprised to learn the the Chronicles were written with an underlying Christian theme. Of course, being a heathen, I didn't pick up on that while reading.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2015 21:12:37 GMT
So ALL the Dick Francis books are about horse racing???
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Post by titus730 on Sept 11, 2015 21:46:06 GMT
So ALL the Dick Francis books are about horse racing??? I haven't read any that didn't have horses or racing in them. That's his genre. Kind of like Lovejoy and the antique world.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2015 22:10:19 GMT
Chap, when I began reading them I also researched C.S. Lewis. I was surprised to learn the the Chronicles were written with an underlying Christian theme. Of course, being a heathen, I didn't pick up on that while reading. I read the books as a child and was sooo disappointed to read a Foreword that explained the Christian thing. As a recent Sunday-school dropout I found the idea of loving a big, golden lion more appealing than worshipping a bearded old man.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2015 5:47:35 GMT
I looked up Ariana Fraklin and saw that she has a book called City of Shadows, where a shifty nightclub owner in 20s Berlin tries to pass off a mental patient as Anastasia Romanov. It seems to have a female protagonist and an exciting plot. In every way it looks like my kind of thing, and I do love me some Romanovs!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2015 5:21:00 GMT
It seems like the past 10 years, books were either something I couldn't afford or I couldn't give time to, as I was chasing 4 small children. Well, the kids are older, and my bins have books 5/$1, so I have been reading again! And getting caught up, so much of what I do buy is 10+ years old.
I just finished "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister" by Gregory Maguire and "The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home" by George Howe Colt. Very different books, but both were engrossing and good reads.
I am about to start "Rowing to Latitude: Journeys Along the Arctic's Edge" by Jill Fredston.
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Post by chapeaunoir on Sept 19, 2015 20:24:40 GMT
Chap, when I began reading them I also researched C.S. Lewis. I was surprised to learn the the Chronicles were written with an underlying Christian theme. Of course, being a heathen, I didn't pick up on that while reading. I read the books as a child and was sooo disappointed to read a Foreword that explained the Christian thing. As a recent Sunday-school dropout I found the idea of loving a big, golden lion more appealing than worshipping a bearded old man. The thing about the Christian thing is it's CS Lewis, which means these particular books strike more at the level of shared myth/belief and symbol than direct translation. It's like reading Franz Kafka and grasping his peculiar disjointed vision. I was reading CS Lewis at the same time I was reading and studying a lot of Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell - they all deal with the collective unconscious and belief at different levels. I was an agnostic when I was in undergrad school and studying theology and myth, and none of the Christian thing bothered me, but the symbology and how it acts in the every day fascinated me. At any rate, I just got in a pile of the Vespasian Series adventures by Robert Fabbri - more swords n' sandals but Vespasian was pretty cool and it's a fascinating time in history. And has sweaty hunky legionaries. I've made a list of some of these other books - I really like 'series' books or at least recurring character books. ETA: Back to Narnia - the one episode that really has stuck with me throughout my life was the one with the rude, thieving little boy who got the bracelet stuck on his arm. What he had to do to peel away the layers and get to his essential, pure, clear self was agonising, but to me it really struck at the heart of deep change in life, whether or not it was meant to also symbolise revelation.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2015 23:40:01 GMT
I spent the summer finishing the Mallory series of mysteries by Carol O'Connell. I only discovered the series in the spring and had to read them all. I love the mystery/thriller genres, and at times I love a lightweight who-dun-it I can read in a few days or even an evening. But sometimes I want something more substantial. This woman can tell a story AND she can write. I find her protagonist, Mallory, completely unlikable, the antithesis of some of my favorite fictional female detective/PIs, and I can't get enough of her. The author's such an expert at fleshing out her characters, I would know the four who appear in every book if I passed them on the street. They're that real to me.
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