What are you reading now?

[Padraig]

....No....

No?!!

Sounds like a real swashbuckling piece of advice.

OK.

[richardfinegold]

'No Name' by Wilkie Collins (1862). For those who don't know him, he was a friend of Dickens and famous fort the 'sensational ' novel. He's said to be the first writer of detective novels , as oposed to short stories. His best known books are The Moonstone and The Woman in White. I prefer him to Dickens, though there's no doubt as to who was the major talent.

I liked the Moonstone but couldn’t get through the Woman in White. What is No Name about?

[french frank]

Sounds like a real swashbuckling piece of advice.

Did you see the TV series? I imagine that if you enjoyed them, you'd enjoy the novels. Ripping yarns?

[LMcD]

Did you see the TV series? I imagine that if you enjoyed them, you'd enjoy the novels. Ripping yarns?

No, I haven't seen the TV series. I would describe them as psychological procedural thrillers with a generous helping of world weariness.
She considers her work to be part of the 'Tartan Noir' Scottish crime fiction genre.

[smittims]

No Name is basically a critique of the legacy law of England at the time. The main character, a young woman (unusually active and independent for a mid-Victorian novel) is disinherited by a tragic error , and resorts to various statagems to recover her and her sister's fortunes. It's a novel of considerable suspense with lots of 'cliffhangers'; it would make a good TV serial.

[Jonathan]

If you like Scottish detective novels (Tartan Noir is a great description), try the J D Kirk series. They are dark and sometimes a bit gruesome but well worth a read. I find it hard to believe they are written by the same person as the Space Team books that I've also read (which are hilarious).

[Pulcinella]

I liked the Moonstone but couldn’t get through the Woman in White. What is No Name about?

Wrong thread, perhaps, but we thoroughly enjoyed this TV adaptation, which we binge watched recently.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wo...2018_TV_series)

[french frank]

No, I haven't seen the TV series. I would describe them as psychological procedural thrillers with a generous helping of world weariness.
She considers her work to be part of the 'Tartan Noir' Scottish crime fiction genre.

??? I was asking Padraig about Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series (with Sean Bean).

[richardfinegold]

Wrong thread, perhaps, but we thoroughly enjoyed this TV adaptation, which we binge watched recently.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wo...2018_TV_series)

My wife didn’t care for the TV adaptation so unfortunately I only saw a few episodes

[Padraig]

??? I was asking Padraig about Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series (with Sean Bean).

I saw one episode some time ago, f f, but I was intimidated by the number of Sharpe books available in the public library. I have sometimes followed a series eg the Harry Bosch detective novels by Michael Connolly, and the Ian Fleming Bond series of paperbacks

. I'm re-reading Lives like Loaded Guns, a biography of Emily Dickinson by Lyndall Gordon.

[LMcD]

??? I was asking Padraig about Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series (with Sean Bean).

Sorry - I thought 3603 was a reply to 3595!
I thoroughly enjoyed Sean Bean's Sharpe, but haven't read anything by Bernard Cornwell.

[Ian Thumwood]

I wondered if anyone had ever read any of Claudia Pineiro's books ? I had never heard if her until one of her books was reviewed on A Good Read.

'Betty Boo' is really good. It does not include any speech marks but I find the style really compelling. The writer is Argentina's best selling crime writer but it is unlike any crime story I have read. The eponymous heroine is a novelist who is employed to write a piece about a murder for a newspaper. The behaviour of all the characters and their thoughts and dialogue ring true. I love the fact that we are reading frim a female perspective and the interaction between the women seems more authentic than anything else I have read. Pineiro is a terrific writer. This is perhaps a perfunctory plot yet Pineiro elevates the story into high quality literature . This is the best Latin writer I have encountered .

[french frank]

Over lunch in the caff: Henry James short story The Lesson of the Master. Moderately interesting where the style doesn't obscure meaning; and I there and then determined that I WILL complete my collection of short stories based on narrator identity puzzles. (I don't believe I shall as I find writing very difficult.)

[AuntDaisy]

Over lunch in the caff: Henry James short story The Lesson of the Master. Moderately interesting where the style doesn't obscure meaning; and I there and then determined that I WILL complete my collection of short stories based on narrator identity puzzles. (I don't believe I shall as I find writing very difficult.)

I haven't read the Henry James short story, but have heard a radio adaptation.
Not sure what a "narrator identity puzzle" is, exactly. But, I'd guess that some forum posts might fit the bill...
Good luck with the writing.

[french frank]

Not sure what a "narrator identity puzzle" is, exactly.

In this case a narrator who is apparently identifiable but may actually be another of the characters; so the 'point of view' aspect is not clear. I gave up on my idea of telling a story in which there were no characters at all. I can't remember who the 'narrator' was, if anyone. It all got a bit convoluted. I also took an idea from Borges y yo about the 'narrator' meeting himself on a park bench. I have a feeling that's the one I submitted to Stand magazine and they just returned the covering letter with the word 'No' written on it. I think there might be a short story in all of this