Wayoutwilly
Member
The Scent of the Night - Andrea Camilleri
A great summer read, especially if you like melodramatic Italian policemen
A great summer read, especially if you like melodramatic Italian policemen
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SFG75
Well-Known Member
World War Z by Max Brooks.
My first and only zombie book.
Thoroughly absorbing, although zombies are still not my genre.
Please see the World War Z thread for complete reviews and discussions.
I will have to check this out, I see it every time I go to the library.
PrincessFiona60
Member
I quite enjoyed World War Z, at least it kept my interest.
Meadow337
Former Moderator
Stonehenge - Bernard Cornwall.
Interesting but ultimately disappointing. I think it would have worked better if it had just been a interesting little novel about a bunch of people in ye olde times building a monument rather than specifically about Stonehenge because it was short on facts and long on fiction. I have read better books (Edward Rutherford comes to mind and Jean M. Auel) in that genre.
Currently 90% through The Atlantis Gene - A.G. Riddle - interesting if mildly annoying in its lack of clear conceptualization - spelling errors in the text are free.
Note to author - change publishers, yours has terrible proof readers. "Wadding" is something you stick in a gun, not something people do. You meant 'wading' or 'waddling' as either work in the sentence.
Interesting but ultimately disappointing. I think it would have worked better if it had just been a interesting little novel about a bunch of people in ye olde times building a monument rather than specifically about Stonehenge because it was short on facts and long on fiction. I have read better books (Edward Rutherford comes to mind and Jean M. Auel) in that genre.
Currently 90% through The Atlantis Gene - A.G. Riddle - interesting if mildly annoying in its lack of clear conceptualization - spelling errors in the text are free.
Note to author - change publishers, yours has terrible proof readers. "Wadding" is something you stick in a gun, not something people do. You meant 'wading' or 'waddling' as either work in the sentence.
Hedwig
Member
Tana French - The Likeness 
A young woman is found dead in an abandoned cottage in the Irish countryside with a stab wound in her chest. Detective Cassie Maddox is shocked to find that the dead woman, Lexie, looks exactly like her - and her colleague has a daring idea: He sends Cassie to live at old Whitethorn House among the four students who shared quarters with Lexie there, telling them she survived after all with partial amnesia, and hopes that she will uncover some valuable evidence as to what really happened.
The plot is not highly realistic and it is not an action-packed thriller, but French is so good at describing people and places that the story develops a fascination of its own. The strangely close ties between the inhabitants of Whitethorn House and the additional thrill of whether Cassie will manage to maintain her disguise made a riveting read for me. (Be warned that I'm one of those people who don't mind long descriptive passages and lots of psychology.)
A young woman is found dead in an abandoned cottage in the Irish countryside with a stab wound in her chest. Detective Cassie Maddox is shocked to find that the dead woman, Lexie, looks exactly like her - and her colleague has a daring idea: He sends Cassie to live at old Whitethorn House among the four students who shared quarters with Lexie there, telling them she survived after all with partial amnesia, and hopes that she will uncover some valuable evidence as to what really happened.
The plot is not highly realistic and it is not an action-packed thriller, but French is so good at describing people and places that the story develops a fascination of its own. The strangely close ties between the inhabitants of Whitethorn House and the additional thrill of whether Cassie will manage to maintain her disguise made a riveting read for me. (Be warned that I'm one of those people who don't mind long descriptive passages and lots of psychology.)
ricko
Member
To Meadow 337:
It took great imagination to write a historical novel about people who left no written history. Not only did Bernard Cornwell succeed, but he spins a compelling, plausible story. I don't remember the last time I rooted so vigorously for the heroes and felt such anger for the villains. Only the actual stones and various temples are a reality. Whether the local tribes worshipped the sun and moon or made those horrible human sacrifices is pure conjecture. It is written so well that I bought the whole package! ricksreviews.blogspot.com
It took great imagination to write a historical novel about people who left no written history. Not only did Bernard Cornwell succeed, but he spins a compelling, plausible story. I don't remember the last time I rooted so vigorously for the heroes and felt such anger for the villains. Only the actual stones and various temples are a reality. Whether the local tribes worshipped the sun and moon or made those horrible human sacrifices is pure conjecture. It is written so well that I bought the whole package! ricksreviews.blogspot.com
ricko
Member
The Wrath of Cochise:
I like my history written with a little pizzazz, but unfortunately this book had a drowsy effect on me. Many reading sessions ended with my eyes trying to close. The book was informative and well written, but Terry Mort has to learn how to stimulate the reader. If you write a 303 page book about The Bascom Affair, don’t wait till the last 63 pages to tell the reader what actually happened. In between the incident and the ensuing ten years the reader learns more about the Mormons, the stagecoach, the Chiricahua Apache lifestyle and West Point than the actual skirmish. A lot of the text was repetitive observations. Okay, enough is enough, I know the Chiricahuas don’t plant crops. They raid, steal, and murder...I get it. I think Terry Mort has talent, but he needs to learn how to tell a story with more fluidity. On the other side of the coin, I found the Indian Wars leading into the Civil War to be very illuminating. Did Cochise really think he won the war when the US Army left to fight the Confederacy? The style Mort used to write this book didn’t give this reader that commiserating feeling that I got reading Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee . The Indian tribes mentioned in this book come across to me as vicious murdering aggressors. Even though Mort wrote about the white man’s attacks against the Indians, the real atrocities that Mort relayed to the reader were done by the various Indian tribes. Did Cochise’s Apaches really tie-up people upside down on wagon wheels over a slow burning fire and cook the victim’s brain while still alive? Did he really spreadeagle his victim and start a campfire on his stomach? If the white man did things other than hanging and shooting Indians, he didn’t mention it, save a occasional scalping. ricksreviews.blogspot.com
I like my history written with a little pizzazz, but unfortunately this book had a drowsy effect on me. Many reading sessions ended with my eyes trying to close. The book was informative and well written, but Terry Mort has to learn how to stimulate the reader. If you write a 303 page book about The Bascom Affair, don’t wait till the last 63 pages to tell the reader what actually happened. In between the incident and the ensuing ten years the reader learns more about the Mormons, the stagecoach, the Chiricahua Apache lifestyle and West Point than the actual skirmish. A lot of the text was repetitive observations. Okay, enough is enough, I know the Chiricahuas don’t plant crops. They raid, steal, and murder...I get it. I think Terry Mort has talent, but he needs to learn how to tell a story with more fluidity. On the other side of the coin, I found the Indian Wars leading into the Civil War to be very illuminating. Did Cochise really think he won the war when the US Army left to fight the Confederacy? The style Mort used to write this book didn’t give this reader that commiserating feeling that I got reading Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee . The Indian tribes mentioned in this book come across to me as vicious murdering aggressors. Even though Mort wrote about the white man’s attacks against the Indians, the real atrocities that Mort relayed to the reader were done by the various Indian tribes. Did Cochise’s Apaches really tie-up people upside down on wagon wheels over a slow burning fire and cook the victim’s brain while still alive? Did he really spreadeagle his victim and start a campfire on his stomach? If the white man did things other than hanging and shooting Indians, he didn’t mention it, save a occasional scalping. ricksreviews.blogspot.com
Meadow337
Former Moderator
To Meadow 337:
It took great imagination to write a historical novel about people who left no written history. Not only did Bernard Cornwell succeed, but he spins a compelling, plausible story. I don't remember the last time I rooted so vigorously for the heroes and felt such anger for the villains. Only the actual stones and various temples are a reality. Whether the local tribes worshipped the sun and moon or made those horrible human sacrifices is pure conjecture. It is written so well that I bought the whole package! ricksreviews.blogspot.com
I guess that's where I beg to differ. I found it disappointing both in comparison with his other books but also with other books in the genre.
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ricko
Member
What other books? ricksreviews.blogspot.com
Meadow337
Former Moderator
As I said: I have read better books (Edward Rutherford comes to mind and Jean M. Auel) in that genre.
Better Bernard Cornwall books - Just about everything he has written that I have read which is almost every thing except the Saxon novels and the Starbuck novels (which I will be reading shortly)
ricko
Member
What do those writers have to do with Stonehenge? If you are talking historical fiction, then I would suggest Sharon Kay Penman as a comparison writer, not the ones you mentioned. Did you really read that book? This is asked with complete deference to you as a moderator. ricksreviews.blogspot. com
Meadow337
Former Moderator
1. This is asked with complete deference to you as a moderator. - HUH???
2. Ernest Rutherfurd wrote a book about Sarum which included a lot of material about Stonehenge. Many of the other places mentioned in the Cornwall book are also in Sarum including Salisbury Mound (read the authors notes at the back)
3. Jean M Auel wrote books about prehistoric people about whom very little is known much like the people in Cornwall's book.
When I compare them in this way Stonehenge comes off second best. Its a personal preference. You like it. I don't
Actually that's not true I did enjoy. I just didn't think it was one of Cornwall's best, nor was it the best of similar books I had read. I thought it would have worked better if it hadn't been about Stonehenge specifically.
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ricko
Member
So little is known about Stonehenge, or the bronze age, and the authors you mention know less. Don't you understand..No written history? I'm sorry if you don't think I respect your opinion. Cornwell (by the way, you said Cornwall ) has written more about Medieval Britain than anybody and should be respected as an authority.
Haven't you read any of the King Alfred novels of Wessex? I think Cornwell has a handle on the Stonehenge theory, even though Stonehenge was built between 2000-3000 BC. Meh! ricksreviews.blogspot.com
Haven't you read any of the King Alfred novels of Wessex? I think Cornwell has a handle on the Stonehenge theory, even though Stonehenge was built between 2000-3000 BC. Meh! ricksreviews.blogspot.com
gonewiththewind
Member
I just finished Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos. It was the first book I have read by him and I really enjoyed it. I felt like I was getting a real, gritty picture of New York in the 1920s. There is much to be admired about the "Jazz Age" but some pretty dreadful issues as well. Women were treated as either Princesses or Whores. Many people were living in abject poverty. Dos Passos did not "pretty it up". The characters were "knowable". I understood their passions - or lack of passions.
http://www.amazon.com/Manhattan-Transfer-John-Dos-Passos/dp/0618381864/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1375995921&sr=8-2&keywords=Manhattan transfer
And now for something totally different, I just started the short stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald. It starts with "A Diamond as Big as the Ritz", one of my favorite stories...
I think my next "to be read" is Jack London short stories.
I do not especially read short stories by habit but I go through "periods" where I read several volumes in a row.
http://www.amazon.com/Manhattan-Transfer-John-Dos-Passos/dp/0618381864/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1375995921&sr=8-2&keywords=Manhattan transfer
And now for something totally different, I just started the short stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald. It starts with "A Diamond as Big as the Ritz", one of my favorite stories...
I think my next "to be read" is Jack London short stories.
I do not especially read short stories by habit but I go through "periods" where I read several volumes in a row.
Wool by Hugh Howey : Omnibus Edition
The story is set in grim future when earth is no longer habitable and people have to live underground in huge cylinders called Silo. There are restrictions on food, kids, pets and even thoughts. If you even once challenge the authoritative IT, you would be thrown out of Silo, to rot in toxic air.
But, then one woman changes it all. She ends up breaking all the rules and yet lives on. Loved the novel. Began with a short eBook version, and could not stop till I devoured all the five parts. The only glitch was slightly pedantic lengthy Pump-fixing episode in Part 5. Other than that, simple loved it.
The story is set in grim future when earth is no longer habitable and people have to live underground in huge cylinders called Silo. There are restrictions on food, kids, pets and even thoughts. If you even once challenge the authoritative IT, you would be thrown out of Silo, to rot in toxic air.
But, then one woman changes it all. She ends up breaking all the rules and yet lives on. Loved the novel. Began with a short eBook version, and could not stop till I devoured all the five parts. The only glitch was slightly pedantic lengthy Pump-fixing episode in Part 5. Other than that, simple loved it.
Meadow337
Former Moderator
I had a bit of a reading marathon the last few days.
I read:
The Atlantis Gene - A.G. Riddle
It was OK and improved as it went along. In some ways very original and in some ways not.
The Flower Reader - Elizabeth Loupas
Interesting take on the story of Mary Queen of Scots. Like many I'm only familiar with events later in her life while this story focuses on the very first years of her reign.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman
Could have been a little less dark, but otherwise very readable.
I read:
The Atlantis Gene - A.G. Riddle
It was OK and improved as it went along. In some ways very original and in some ways not.
The Flower Reader - Elizabeth Loupas
Interesting take on the story of Mary Queen of Scots. Like many I'm only familiar with events later in her life while this story focuses on the very first years of her reign.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman
Could have been a little less dark, but otherwise very readable.
ricko
Member
Proof of Heaven:
If this story is real, it’s great news for every good egg out there. If you are not a straight shooter then I suggest you grab a copy of Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy. You will not like what you read. Amen. However, Dr. Eben Alexander does say in this stunning book that God loves everybody...but why take a chance, just treat everyone the way you would want to be treated and earn your ticket to the pearly gates. Is there really a spiritual afterlife, or did the good doctor experience a brain fart? I don’t know. He did have E.coli bacterial meningitis that basically eats your brain, rendering it kaputs. It’s so rare that less than one person in ten million contract it. Usually after several days, the best you can hope for is a vegetative state. Dr. Alexander had it for seven days and fully recovered enough to write this book. Near- death experiences ( NDE’s ) are not new, but coming from this previously disbelieving neurosurgeon, it’s certainly a significant happening. I think that is what’s important. Scientist and academicians have traditionally avoided taking on these issues, with the exception of P.M.H. Atwater’s 1988 book Coming Back to Life. Dr. Alexander certainly gave this reader a lot to think about. The reader wants to believe. 4 out of 5 stars
ricksreviews.blogspot.com
If this story is real, it’s great news for every good egg out there. If you are not a straight shooter then I suggest you grab a copy of Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy. You will not like what you read. Amen. However, Dr. Eben Alexander does say in this stunning book that God loves everybody...but why take a chance, just treat everyone the way you would want to be treated and earn your ticket to the pearly gates. Is there really a spiritual afterlife, or did the good doctor experience a brain fart? I don’t know. He did have E.coli bacterial meningitis that basically eats your brain, rendering it kaputs. It’s so rare that less than one person in ten million contract it. Usually after several days, the best you can hope for is a vegetative state. Dr. Alexander had it for seven days and fully recovered enough to write this book. Near- death experiences ( NDE’s ) are not new, but coming from this previously disbelieving neurosurgeon, it’s certainly a significant happening. I think that is what’s important. Scientist and academicians have traditionally avoided taking on these issues, with the exception of P.M.H. Atwater’s 1988 book Coming Back to Life. Dr. Alexander certainly gave this reader a lot to think about. The reader wants to believe.
4 out of 5 starsricksreviews.blogspot.com