dtaai-maai wrote: ↑Fri May 14, 2021 3:05 am
Also available on z-library is the fifth Strike (and Robin <sigh>) novel, Troubled Blood.
A breathtaking, labyrinthine epic, Troubled Blood is the fifth Strike and Robin novel and the most gripping and satisfying yet. Private Detective Cormoran Strike is visiting his family in Cornwall when he is approached by a woman asking for help finding her mother, Margot Bamborough – who went missing in mysterious circumstances in 1974. Strike has never tackled a cold case before, let alone one forty years old. But despite the slim chance of success, he is intrigued and takes it on; adding to the long list of cases that he and his partner in the agency, Robin Ellacott, are currently working on. And Robin herself is also juggling a messy divorce and unwanted male attention, as well as battling her own feelings about Strike. As Strike and Robin investigate Margot’s disappearance, they come up against a fiendishly complex case with leads that include tarot cards, a psychopathic serial killer and witnesses who cannot all be trusted. And they learn that even cases decades old can prove to be deadly.
How many restraining orders is that now?
“Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.”
― George Carlin
“The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.” -George Orwell.
I forgot the Thursday Murder Club from my review. Thought it was very good.
Whilst I enjoyed the first three Strike novels, I haven't been able to get to grips with the latest two. "Troubled Blood" is almost 1,000 pages, isn't it (in book form). War and Peace. I gave up about 15% through.
I'm re-reading Frank Herbert's Dune. I first (and last) read it when I was in my teens, so getting on for 50 years ago (eek). I'd forgotten what a grand tale it is!
Just finished off the latest Rebus outing, "A Song for the Dark Times". I wasn't disappointed. Although poor old John is retired now, he still manages to get involved in most things.
Page Refresh: How the Internet is Transforming the Novel
Doom scrolling, oversharing, constantly updating social media feeds – the internet shapes how we see the world, and now it’s changing the stories we tell, writes author Olivia Sudjic.
Towards the end of 2020, a year spent supine on my sofa consuming endless internet like a force-fed goose, I managed to finish a beautifully written debut novel: Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson, which comes out later in 2021. And yet despite the entrancing descriptions, I could barely turn two pages before my hand moved reflexively toward the cracked screen of my phone. Each time I returned to the novel I felt ashamed, and the shame only grew as I realised that, somehow, though the story was set in the present, and involved an often long-distance romance between two young people with phones, it contained not one single reference to what by then I considered a hallmark of present-day humanity: mindless scrolling through social media.
[...]
Characters in today’s novels are more likely to surprise us if they don’t use social media. This is often put down to their age, or pious superiority, or eccentricity, or something very sinister in their past. In Raven Leilani’s debut Luster, the narrator’s older love interest (met via online dating) uses “retired internet slang”, and is “not even on Twitter”. Unlike with men her own age, she cannot track his “formative development online”, and this adds to his allure.
Similarly, in Lauren Oyler’s forthcoming Fake Accounts, the narrator’s boyfriend appears to have minimal internet presence (suspicious)...
Am I alone in finding this this article extremely disturbing? I sincerely hope it's a load of crap, but I'm rather afraid it's not...
lomuamart wrote: ↑Sat May 01, 2021 7:50 am
William Boyd - Any Human Heart. I searched high and low for a torrent of this book and finally got one from buksida's recommended site https://b-ok.asia/?regionChanged=&redirect=34220580 I think anything this guy has written is so good and this didn't disappoint.
When I saw it was in diary format, I had doubts as to whether I'd get on with it but I did and it's a huge book. It chronicles the 20th century through the eyes of Logan Mountstuart, from his early years in Montevideo, through an English public school and Oxford and then his development into a mediocre author.
His life takes in the Bloomsbury set, Spanish civil war, Americans in 1930s Paris, espionage, the Baader-Meinhof gang and so on. There's a stellar supporting cast that includes Picasso, Hemmingway and many others. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor during WW2 come out of things particularly badly.
As said, the protagonist is only a middling author and his personal life is a sorry tale of multiple failed marriages, alcoholism and poverty. That said, there are many humourous aspects to the tale. This review doesn't do the book justice by a long shot.
A definite 5 stars and a book that I'll definitely go back and re-read at some point.
I don't know how it compares to the book but the mini series ( stellar cast, Jim Broadbent, Tom Hollander etc) was excellent. Torrents are a bit thin on the ground but I managed to find one on LimeTorrents. A 5 star keeper
Having now read the book and re watched the series I can say that for the first time ever (for me) the series was as good as the book. The series does miss out portions of the book but does improve on other parts.
I have downloaded all of his other books so looking forward to more quality reading.
“Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.”
― George Carlin
“The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.” -George Orwell.
Just finished his second book An Ice Cream War.
An Ice-Cream War was the debut novel(nooo..his second) of William Boyd who would go on to be recognized as 'the finest storyteller of his generation' (Sebastian Faulks). It follows the fortunes of several wildly different characters - including an expat farmer and a young English aristocrat - as they are swept up in the fighting in German East Africa during the First World War, their lives converging amid battle, betrayal, love, comedy and tragedy.
Not as good as AHH but readable
Just started his debut novel, A Good Man In Africa(1981) and it's got me from page 1. A five star keeper.
In the small African republic of Kinjanja, British diplomat Morgan Leafy bumbles heavily through his job. His love of women, his fondness for drink, and his loathing for the country prove formidable obstacles on his road to any kind of success. But when he becomes an operative in Operation Kingpin and is charged with monitoring the front runner in Kinjanja’s national elections, Morgan senses an opportunity to achieve real professional recognition and, more importantly, reassignment.
After he finds himself being blackmailed, diagnosed with a venereal disease, attempting bribery, and confounded with a dead body, Morgan realizes that very little is going according to plan.
“Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.”
― George Carlin
“The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.” -George Orwell.
sateeb wrote: ↑Fri Jul 23, 2021 8:11 am
After he finds himself being blackmailed, diagnosed with a venereal disease, attempting bribery, and confounded with a dead body, Morgan realizes that very little is going according to plan.
All Boyds books are simply put, amongst the best. I'm just about to start reading, 'Love is Blind' on kindle. Then when the price comes down a bit, I will get 'Trio' and then I'm up to date.
lomuamart wrote: ↑Fri Jul 23, 2021 4:56 pm
Yes, "A Good Man in Africa" is a classic. I'm sure you'll enjoy it right through.
Leafy just gets into deeper and deeper trouble.
BUT>>> No, I won't spoil it for you.
There's a 1994 movie starring Sean Connery, John Lithgow and Diana Rigg. Got a pretty low rating on IMDB and downloads are as rare as rocking horse poo.
Are there any other authors out there with a similar style to Boyd as I am getting quite weary of the Lee Childs type thrillers(chase me,chase me)
Edit..Did a google is my friend and have downloaded a couple of books by John Banville. Anyone read his books?
“Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.”
― George Carlin
“The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.” -George Orwell.
lomuamart wrote: ↑Fri Jul 23, 2021 4:56 pm
Yes, "A Good Man in Africa" is a classic. I'm sure you'll enjoy it right through.
Leafy just gets into deeper and deeper trouble.
BUT>>> No, I won't spoil it for you.
There's a 1994 movie starring Sean Connery, John Lithgow and Diana Rigg. Got a pretty low rating on IMDB and downloads are as rare as rocking horse poo.
Are there any other authors out there with a similar style to Boyd as I am getting quite weary of the Lee Childs type thrillers(chase me,chase me)
Edit..Did a google is my friend and have downloaded a couple of books by John Banville. Anyone read his books?
You may enjoy the Swedish writers; Henning Mankell and Asa Laarson. I get them at the Blue and Yellow bookstore for 190 baht each and you can trade in books and receive 80-90 baht in trade. You may already know that, I thought I'd add it just in case......
