What are you reading now?

[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

[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).

[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)

[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).

[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.

[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.

[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?

[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?

[Padraig]

....No....

No?!!

Sounds like a real swashbuckling piece of advice.

OK.

[AuntDaisy]

Ishiguro reckons on five years to produce a novel (not sure how many times BC has been shortlisted for the Man Booker):
https://thebookerprizes.com/kazuo-ishiguro-qa

Barbara Cartland looks to have been 2 weeks per novel, at peak production (1977 or 2000?).

[french frank]

Ishiguro reckons on five years to produce a novel (not sure how many times BC has been shortlisted for the Man Booker):

https://thebookerprizes.com/kazuo-ishiguro-qa

[eighthobstruction]

I enjoyed that, f f: it's about 'reading' rather than 'what I'm reading'. In similar vein, there's an article in today's Observer about an author. It's by David Barnett, page 13. The author is Bernard Cornwell, an author I know from his well-stocked shelves in the library. It's an interesting article, imo, about 'writing'. I have not read any 'Sharpe novels' - should I include Cornwell in 'what I'm reading now'? Anyone?

....No....

[vinteuil]

... further to the record -

"
"For the first time in 44 years Bernard Cornwell will not be delivering a book this year as his latest, Sharpe’s Storm, has been delayed by a Tempest. While supporting his sick wife, Cornwell, 80, got two thirds of the book done by last month but was then derailed by the Cape Cod Shakespeare Festival, where he’d agreed to play Prospero. “I made an admittedly feeble effort to refuse,” he said, “but the feeble effort was rejected.” He’ll deliver the book next year, but feels like he’s been slacking. “The great George MacDonald Fraser once remarked to me, ‘You slow down at 80’,” Cornwell said. “I have.” Slowed down? For most, producing a play and two thirds of a book in a year is such stuff as dreams are made on."

.

[french frank]

I enjoyed that, f f: it's about 'reading' rather than 'what I'm reading'. In similar vein, there's an article in today's Observer about an author. It's by David Barnett, page 13. The author is Bernard Cornwell, an author I know from his well-stocked shelves in the library. It's an interesting article, imo, about 'writing'. I have not read any 'Sharpe novels' - should I include Cornwell in 'what I'm reading now'? Anyone?

For the record:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/aug/24/sharpe-creator-bernard-cornwell-apologises-to-fans-for-no-new-novel-in-2024

[LMcD]

Working my way through Val McDermid's Karen Pirie novels, I'm currently enjoying 'The Skeleton Road'.