Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

I'm just reading "First among sequels" by Jasper Fforde, and I am absolutely loving it. How come I haven't discovered him before now ????? If you like Terry Pratchett and have studied language and literature to any extent, you will love JF's Bookworld. Is anyone else a fan?

I did enjoy Engleby, though I liked the chapters about Cambridge best. I found his description of the boarding school rather unconvincing. I'm not sure which things were meant to have actually happened - whether the narrator was actually telling the truth about his past, or whether he was making things up to justify his actions. I certainly found it thought-provoking.

I am currently reading "Half of a yellow sun", and finding it a bit hard-going. I can't really get interested in the characters. I find I need an interesting plot to hold my attention, I'm not satisfied by elegant writing. (Unlike some of my book club, who loved "The Rainbow", which bored me).

Jo wrote:I'm just reading "First among sequels" by Jasper Fforde, and I am absolutely loving it. Is anyone else a fan?

Yes, I greatly enjoyed the first 4 Thursday Nexts (but I haven't read First among sequels yet). I didn't go overboard quite so much for The Big Over Easy. To my mind rather more reminiscent of Robert Rankin than Pratchett, but I'm an occasional dabbler in the genre rather than a devotee.

Update on my current reading: I'm reaching the end of volume 2 of the collected Paul Halter. I polished off La Lettre qui tue over the weekend - a departure into the thriller genre for Halter, but I'm not convinced it came off really satisfyingly as the twists tended towards the predictable and/or unbelievable (as in "I can't believe any of the characters wouldn't have seen that coming a mile off..."). Still, I'm about to get back into Le Diable de Dartmoor at chapter 11: the mystery appears to be set up on at least three levels and the reader is being nudged (possibly with malice aforethought) to bear The Hound of the Baskervilles in mind.

I am much more simple, I am afraid. At the weekend I laid around to consume The Mozart Conspiracy by Scott Mariani (one of my two for £7 purchases from Tesco). Think Dan Brown, add a bit more culture, a longer timeframe, and realise that he writes in 'cinematographic' style. I could not put it down. Ideal wet weather or holiday beach reading!
I have now moved on to The Resurrectionist by James Bradley (an Australian, writing about Victorian London). Another 'two for £7 from Tesco' and this time recommended by Richard and Judie (before their demise, I guess). Am not very far into it, but the jury is still out. I am finding it hard going.....
Kerren

Thanks for your comments on The Mozart Conspiracy, Kerren. My stepdaughter gave it to me, and I'm saving it for when I run out of library books. (We only visit once a week, when we take the car when we do the shopping, neither of us being in favour of carrying heavy loads).
I've just finished "Centurion" by Scarrow. Most enjoyable, if you like plenty of blood and guts. I don't do intellectual reading.

Good luck, Midget! The body count inThe Mozart Conspiracy surpasses Elizabeth George or Ruth Rendell! But I reiterate that once I got into it, I could not put it down. Now I am trying to buy his first book....
Kerren

"Waiting for the Day"

Leslie Thomas.

A 'cannot-put-down' book

Vièr Bliu wrote: I'm about to get back into Le Diable de Dartmoor at chapter 11: the mystery appears to be set up on at least three levels and the reader is being nudged (possibly with malice aforethought) to bear The Hound of the Baskervilles in mind.

Le Diable de Dartmoor turned out to be ingenious and multi-levelled but rather less atmospheric than anticipated. I've still got volume 3 of the collected Paul Halter to go, but I think I'll give Halter a rest for a bit - it's like gorging on a complete box of chocolates in one go.

Vièr Bliu wrote: but I think I'll give Halter a rest for a bit - it's like gorging on a complete box of chocolates in one go.

It's obviously time for Leslie Thomas then.

Ajarn Philip wrote:

Vièr Bliu wrote: but I think I'll give Halter a rest for a bit - it's like gorging on a complete box of chocolates in one go.

It's obviously time for Leslie Thomas then.

Leslie Thomas. A great author, especially the 'Dangerous Davies' trilogy.

Ajarn Philip wrote: It's obviously time for Leslie Thomas then.

A looooong time since I read any Leslie Thomas.

I'm currently halfway through a slim tome: The Death of the King's Canary by Dylan Thomas and John Davenport. Although the tome is slim, going is slow as it's a roman à clef and I'm not as up on British poets of the 30s and 40s as I might be to be able to spot the various writers parodied.

Next up is probably Josef Škvorecký's Dvorak in Love (but I'm wimping out by reading it in English translation - the last time I picked it up, the lack of diacritics in the translation annoyed me so much I put it down again after a few pages. For heaven's sake, if one can't even manage Dvořák in the title...)

Talking of wimping out, I'm thinking of challenging myself to plough through the Harry Potter oeuvre by Christmas. The question is: how sad is that?

Harry Potter will take you about a week, they are books for children after all.

I don't usually post on this thread because I read so much (four books a week) so I would never stop posting.

Our local library has recently had had a 'virtual' book club. A table with lots of books by the same author with comment cards inside. The author was Robert Goddard who I had not come across before. he writes like someone would speak, warts, farts, hangovers and all. He has a couple of books with the same protagonist but of the others I haven't come across any two the same, if pushed I wouldn't even have said they were the same author, different stories, different styles but all very good.

The Harry Potters are on the list of library books banned by Sarah Palin.

I found the books she wants off the library shelves at a librarians' link somewhere which has now been removed. Masses of banned books! Including -

Chaucer's Canterbury Tales!

Lady C - oh well...

My Friend Flicka. Why??

Brave New World

The Merchant of Venice

And many, many more.

Unless there's a new "Harry Potter and the Right To Bear Arms" in the pipeline?

I really enjoy Robert Goddard, though I think that his early ones were better than his most recent. One or two of his latest books are a bit 'off the wall' (can't remember what it's called, but in one of the books a house has walls which move......). My favourite was 'Caught in the Light' - about a photographer, and part of it set in Chichester. He does write well, and he is meticulous in his research.

Our local toy magnate (The Entertainer if you know it) won't stock HP merchandise as he equates magic with Satanism and I think a lot of the US Bible Belt feel the same way.

Was just wwriting this when Kerren posted about Robert Goddard, Caught in the Light is one of the ones I have read. The first one I read was No going Back about an RAF reunion in Scotland, a little conspiracy theorist but very good.