What are you reading now?

[HighlandDougie]

Richard

Good evening

I believe that Philip Kerr did write other novels including contemporary thrillers and also a football-related crime series in addition to a few books for children. I have never read any of these but do not believe they are up to the same standard as the Gunther series. From what I understand, the first three novels were a critical success and I would imagine that there was a demand for him to bring the character back. It did not realise that the hiatus was so long. Curiously, Kerr was friends with another writer I admire, Ian Rankin.

Tom Hanks was alleged to have bought the rights to the books and there was talk of the books being adapted for the screen. I was shocked to learn of Philip Kerr's passing just as I embarked on reading his books. I had started with "Prussian Blue" as my curiousity was piqued by the cover although I had anticipated it to be pulp fiction. The book had me hooked from a few chapters in and the sheer banality of the Nazis he described seemed to strike me as authentic. I was wondering where you thought Kerr might have taken his character in future novels. In my opinion, Bernie would have ended up being compromised into working with Mossad and I feel that he would either have ended up trying to extradite Nazis from Brazil or maybe have materialised in the US but denied a relaxing and enjoyable retirement. As you state, these books do have a cult following and I have also learned a lot of history from them. Some of the nuggets are really wierd like the plans to invade Switzerland and how the Swiss were aware of this and would have thwarted the German operation. There was so much research involved in these books , not only with regard to the geo-politcal / military events but also with regard to just how many of the seemingly minor characters were actually genuine people. One thing that appeals to me with writing is dialogue and the tone set by the Gunther novels probably ranks as amongst my favourite. From recollection, there aren't too many writers who had attained that level of skill in defining a character by their dialogue in popular fiction. The Rebus novels also spring to mind as well as Kate Atkinson who also gets dialogue absolutely spot on.

If anyone here has not discovered these books, I would seriously recommend this series. I like reading authors who have a distinct voice and character in their writing. The Bernie Gunther series is a great example but I also enjoy writers such as William Boyd, Ian McEwan, Kate Atkinson and Ian Rankin.

I have not seem any comments on this thread about the Rebus series which reached the penultimate volume last year.. I am really perplexed as to how Rebus is going to get out of the situation he had been left in at the end of the last book. Rebus' contined involvement interferring in police cases has been an on-going "issue" in the more recent novels and the last book seemed to show the chickens coming home to roost.

You might try the trilogy written by Chris Petit, starting with ‘The Butchers of Berlin’. Perhaps not for the squeamish but well written.

[Ian Thumwood]

Dougie

Thanks for the recommendation. I will add it to my list to read.

Cheers
Ian

[LMcD]

Started today on 'Old Babes In The Wood' - a new collection of stories by Margaret Atwood.

[Ian Thumwood]

I was interested in Harriet Gilbert's comment in a recent edition of " A good read" concerning her chosen novel and how a male reader might identify differently from a female reader concerning a male character in a novel. As ever, I always find myself thinking that I would never want to read one of HG's recommendations but her comment did strike a note with me having finished Isabel Allende's recent novel "Violet." I picked this book up on a whim and although the first quarter of the book was very good, it took a massive nosedive in the remaining 75% when the principle character grew into an unpleasant and unsympathetic adult. I had read good things about this writer yet my impression was os someone who knows how to write but not tell a good story. As bad as it is with it's wooden and stiff characters (including one who seems to have been based on the Marlboro' cigarette man) , it did cross my mind as how blokes would view the principle character in this book. In my opinion, she would not be viewed favourably. It might tick all the boxes with some feminists but I will be returning to William Boyd and Ian Rankin after this bore-fest!

[smittims]

At this time of year I usually read a volume of Parson Woodforde's Diary, taking me back to my favourite century: the eighteenth. It has so much to tell us about ordinary life in those days. In many ways i think they had a better attitiude to things then than in our politically-correct age.

[LMcD]

I've become a great admirer of Val McDermid's work, and am currently gripped by 'The Distant Echo'. She's one of those authors who mercifully eschew (over-)long sentences!

[richardfinegold]

I am almost finished with Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry. It’s a saga about a group of Texas Rangers in Reconstruction -era Texas that become cattlemen and give up their comfortable existence to drive a herd through the Great Plains and into Montana. The areas they traverse still are not completely pacified regarding Indigenous Peoples and disasters occur. Most of the ex Rangers would have been happy to live out their days in Texas but they are controlled psychologically and also financially by their former leader Captain Call, who just can’t adjust to a peaceful existence and needs a life of dangerous challenges. It was a popular serialization a few years ago and I will be seeking that out

[Ian Thumwood]

I am almost finished with Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry. It’s a saga about a group of Texas Rangers in Reconstruction -era Texas that become cattlemen and give up their comfortable existence to drive a herd through the Great Plains and into Montana. The areas they traverse still are not completely pacified regarding Indigenous Peoples and disasters occur. Most of the ex Rangers would have been happy to live out their days in Texas but they are controlled psychologically and also financially by their former leader Captain Call, who just can’t adjust to a peaceful existence and needs a life of dangerous challenges. It was a popular serialization a few years ago and I will be seeking that out

Richard

That serialization is probably the best western I hae seen. Must have been shown around mid 1990s. The office where I worked at the time were hooked on the story. I did not apprciate that the book was available.

Just started reading another Rebus novel.

[richardfinegold]

Richard

That serialization is probably the best western I hae seen. Must have been shown around mid 1990s. The office where I worked at the time were hooked on the story. I did not apprciate that the book was available.

Just started reading another Rebus novel.

After my previous post I researched the serialization and was surprised to see that it occurred in 1989. I saw bits here and there on cable television in the late nineties. The leads are Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall, although I am not sure who plays the laconic Call and the garrulous McRae, as it seems that each of them would be great at both roles. Amazon Prime carries it for free, albeit with commercials , and I will try to borrow the DVDs from our local library, which will probably have to a library loan from elsewhere. My wife returns tonight from looking after mother on the East Coast, and she had read the book a few years ago, so this will be a lot of fun for us.
One of my book clubs has assigned A River Runs Through It, by Norman Maclean, ironic in that it is also set In Montana and was also the subject of a famous cinematic treatment from around the same time as the serialization of Lonesome Dove, in this case an Academy Award winning performance by Robert Redford. I never saw the movie. Fortunately the book is much briefer than Lonesome Dove. So far more than half the prose is devoted to the intricacies of fly fishing and I am finding it excruciatingly dull. Brief as it is, I may take the easy way out by chucking it and just watching the movie and bluff my way through the Book Club meeting

[HighlandDougie]

Inspired by it being cited elsewhere on the forum (which led to my buying it), "Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949 - 1990", by Katja Hoyer. Having driven through Thuringia in September en route from Scotland to the Alpes Maritimes and playing the game of, "would I know whether this town used to be in the East or not", it's a fascinating read. Answers to the game included, "Weimar - not really; Erfurt or Gera - God, like Cumbernauld, definitely Ossi".

[french frank]

Having driven through Thuringia in September en route from Scotland to the Alpes Maritimes

??? And why not?

[LMcD]

Inspired by it being cited elsewhere on the forum (which led to my buying it), "Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949 - 1990", by Katja Hoyer. Having driven through Thuringia in September en route from Scotland to the Alpes Maritimes and playing the game of, "would I know whether this town used to be in the East or not", it's a fascinating read. Answers to the game included, "Weimar - not really; Erfurt or Gera - God, like Cumbernauld, definitely Ossi".

Thank you for drawing this book to my attention. I've just placed a reservation with Suffolk Libraries!

[richardfinegold]

After my previous post I researched the serialization and was surprised to see that it occurred in 1989. I saw bits here and there on cable television in the late nineties. The leads are Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall, although I am not sure who plays the laconic Call and the garrulous McRae, as it seems that each of them would be great at both roles. Amazon Prime carries it for free, albeit with commercials , and I will try to borrow the DVDs from our local library, which will probably have to a library loan from elsewhere. My wife returns tonight from looking after mother on the East Coast, and she had read the book a few years ago, so this will be a lot of fun for us.
One of my book clubs has assigned A River Runs Through It, by Norman Maclean, ironic in that it is also set In Montana and was also the subject of a famous cinematic treatment from around the same time as the serialization of Lonesome Dove, in this case an Academy Award winning performance by Robert Redford. I never saw the movie. Fortunately the book is much briefer than Lonesome Dove. So far more than half the prose is devoted to the intricacies of fly fishing and I am finding it excruciatingly dull. Brief as it is, I may take the easy way out by chucking it and just watching the movie and bluff my way through the Book Club meeting

I finished A River Runs Through It-it’s only 160 pages -and then we immediately watched the movie. This is the only instance I can recall of a movie being vastly superior to the book that it is supposedly based upon. Besides the cinematic splendor of Montana, the screenplay makes the plot more coherent and puts some flesh on its bones. And while not ignoring the intricacies of fly fishing, it at least subordinates it to the plot, whereas the book takes the reverse approach. The very young Brad Pitt is superb, and Tom Skerrit shines as the father, who is a relatively minor character in the book

[vinteuil]

... every few years I re-read Pierre Mac Orlan (Pierre Dumarchey)'s la Nuit de Zeebrugge / le Bal du Pont du Nord, and I'm starting again. I never really quite understand what's going on...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Mac_Orlan

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Mac_Orlan
.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Bal_du_Pont_du_Nord

.

[gurnemanz]

Inspired by it being cited elsewhere on the forum (which led to my buying it), "Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949 - 1990", by Katja Hoyer. Having driven through Thuringia in September en route from Scotland to the Alpes Maritimes and playing the game of, "would I know whether this town used to be in the East or not", it's a fascinating read. Answers to the game included, "Weimar - not really; Erfurt or Gera - God, like Cumbernauld, definitely Ossi".

My wife is an Ossi, born in Leipzig (like R. Wagner), and is reading that book at the moment. I shall be next.

I have just started a book about another Saxon woman, Minna Wagner, née Planer, born in Dresden. I somewhat randomly noticed Eva Rieger's "Minna und Richard Wagner. Stationen einer Liebe". Having read some positive reviews, I acquired it second hand. Minna gets a bad press generally and this promises to be some sort of rehabilitation. It seems to be very thoroughly researched and for Wagner completists it will most likely offer new perspectives on RW's early years. The first sentence is a pertinent quote from Cosima's diaries:

Richard calls to me: "What is the difference between Wotan and Siegfried? Wotan married Minna and Sigfried Cosima".

Minna is more Fricka than Brünnhilde, for example washing his dirty underwear in their somewhat penurious early years - something which I can't imagine Cosima getting round to.

I got the German original, first published in 2003 and translated that quote, and an English version has just arrived - rather expensively. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Minna-Wagne...=UTF8&qid=&sr=