nikki-red   307 #2653 Posted November 7, 2017 I keep meaning to re-read The Dark Half by Stephen King.... I remember loving it at about the same age!   The Dark Half is a great book. I re-read The Stand before IT, another good one. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
lindylou53 Â Â 18 #2654 Posted November 7, 2017 Anyone read Into The Water by Paula Hawkins? I found it a big disappointment after her previous book. Far too many characters to keep track of and an unbelievable plot. Love to hear other people's views. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
metalman   21 #2655 Posted November 7, 2017 I've nearly finished 'Best Thinking Machine detective stories' by Jacques Futrelle, in which Prof. Augustus S.F.X. van Dusen, the Thinking Machine of the title, solves a selection of seemingly impossible crimes, assisted by his reporter sidekick, Hutchinson Hatch, who does the legwork. These were written very early last century (about 1906-7 mostly) but still seem pretty ingenious now. The collection kicks off with a particularly noted and often reprinted classic story, The Problem of Cell 13, in which the professor is voluntarily incarcerated in a prison cell and devises a means of escape to win a bet.  Sadly Futrelle, who despite his name was American, didn't get to fulfil his potential because he went down with the Titanic in 1912; apparently he shoved his wife into a lifeboat but wouldn't get in himself. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
lectrolove   10 #2656 Posted November 11, 2017 A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. An epic tale of India in the years following Partition. I've been on this for weeks and still less than half way through, not because it's heavy going (it isn't) but just because it's really, unbelievably, gob-smackingly, staggeringly long. The paper version must be like a brick and this book is an example of why God gave us Kindles. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
taxman   12 #2657 Posted November 17, 2017 Out by Natsuo Kirino.  An odd book about 4 Japanese co-workers who endure a bleak life of drudgery until one kills her husband and the others assist in dismembering him and scattering him around the city. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
nikki-red   307 #2658 Posted November 17, 2017 Out by Natsuo Kirino. An odd book about 4 Japanese co-workers who endure a bleak life of drudgery until one kills her husband and the others assist in dismembering him and scattering him around the city.   I read this a few years ago and really enjoyed it.  'Odd' is definitely a good word to describe it tho! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
metalman   21 #2659 Posted November 17, 2017 'Great cases of the Thinking Machine' by Jacques Futrelle. This was the second collection of his stories to be published by Dover, but really they shot themselves in the foot by calling the first one 'Best Thinking Machine detective stories' and thereby implying that these weren't so good. I think they're right, mind you, but this lot aren't bad by any means. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
taxman   12 #2660 Posted November 19, 2017 I read this a few years ago and really enjoyed it. 'Odd' is definitely a good word to describe it tho!  "Odd" is an understatement for the last chapter....torture, rape and forgiveness..it was a bit too weird for me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
feargal   21 #2661 Posted November 27, 2017 (edited) On now to "Conclave" by Robert Harris.  this was a very good read, and it wasn't what I was expecting it to be! I'm halfway through completely forgetable "thriller" called Hanging Wood. I lost my page the other night and its so bland I couldn't actually think of anything that had happened so far Edited December 4, 2017 by feargal Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
joinerisme   10 #2662 Posted December 4, 2017 The Road To Little Dribbling-Bill Bryson.A very entertaining read. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
focemal   10 #2663 Posted December 4, 2017 Killers of the king: The men who dared to execute Charles I by Charles Spencer. As it says on the tin and Charles II's wave of retribution against those responsible. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
metalman   21 #2664 Posted December 10, 2017 Just finished 'The lady in the morgue' by Jonathan Latimer. This is a hard-boiled detective novel from 1936, one of Latimer's series about private eye Bill Crane. If you're easily offended by politically incorrect language you'll probably want to give it a miss, as there are an assortment of derogatory term for black people and Italians bandied about; personally I think it's the language of the time and we should leave it that way.  Just started 'The girl in blue' by P.G. Wodehouse for a bit of lighter reading. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...