conjugate
Compulsive punster and insatiable reader, and
Member-Moderator
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 17,026
Tends to have warped sense of humor
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« Reply #45 on: October 14, 2008, 07:55:25 PM » |
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Jasper Fforde's The Fourth Bear; light-hearted and amusing. I'd had a copy before, but the dog ate it. No pieces more than a few square inches across were found afterwards, so he apprently really liked it.
I've only read his Thursday Next novels - how do the Nursery Crime books compare? I thought that he tried a bit too hard in The Big Over Easy, mainly because he was taking pot shots at just about everything in the detective genre, so the humour was sometimes a bit forced. The Fourth Bear was a lot better. Anybody fancy a trip to Sommeworld this weekend? You'll only be terrified, not killed. I haven't read The Big Over Easy yet (they didn't have it at my bookstore). I'd say the Nursery Crime books are similar to, but different from, the Thursday Next books. Pretty interesting, and good for a few laugh-out-loud moments (to me, so far). |
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Unfortunately, I think conjugate gives good advice.
∀ε>0∃δ>0∋|x–a|<δ⇒|ƒ(x)-ƒ(a)|<ε |
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hmaria1609
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« Reply #46 on: October 15, 2008, 05:18:14 PM » |
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Why can't I find Gortner at Barnes and Noble? Very old or very new?
It came out in late August. Perhaps the store is out of stock? |
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llanfair
Village idiot and Very
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 23,199
Whither Canada?
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« Reply #47 on: October 15, 2008, 06:58:28 PM » |
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I'm a Gregory fan and ran right out and bought The Other Queen. It's good, but you can definitely wait for the paperback and re-read The Other Boleyn Girl while doing so.
Thanks for this, CQ; I'd been going to give in and buy the hardcover. I'm well into Plaidy's reissue The Queen's Devotion, which about Mary II of England.
Comp Queen--you may also want to look into Plaidy's The Captive Queen of Scots which covers Mary's imprisonment in Scotland to her death.
I'm glad I'm not the only Jean Plaidy fan here, HM and CQ. Her book Daughters of Spain started my history addiction at the ripe old age of 11, purely by accident. I'm going to pre-order Sharon Kay Penman's new one, Devil's Brood; it's the last in her trilogy about Henry II and his sons (incl Richard Couer de Lion and John Softsword). On edit: OK, I lied. I've just ordered both to save on shipping from Amazon :) |
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« Last Edit: October 15, 2008, 07:01:53 PM by llanfair »
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This place stinks like a pair of armoured trousers after the Hundred Years' War.
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indianalitchick
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« Reply #48 on: October 15, 2008, 08:29:58 PM » |
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Just finished American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld and An Assembly Such as This: A Novel of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman by Pamela Aidan.
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« Last Edit: October 15, 2008, 08:31:07 PM by indianalitchick »
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baseballfan
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« Reply #49 on: October 16, 2008, 07:59:56 AM » |
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Just finished American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld and An Assembly Such as This: A Novel of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman by Pamela Aidan.
I too just finished American Wife. (Might just have to run out and see W this weekend, as a result.) I'm now on Thomas Friedman's Hot, Flat, and Crowded. It's scaring the living daylights out of me. |
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llanfair
Village idiot and Very
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 23,199
Whither Canada?
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« Reply #50 on: October 16, 2008, 11:08:13 AM » |
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I can recommend Amanda Foreman's Duchess, which is a reissue of her Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. It's an adaptation of her PhD dissertation, but it's not pedantic at all - it just sparkles. The film, starring Keira Knightley, is making the rounds now.
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This place stinks like a pair of armoured trousers after the Hundred Years' War.
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sikora
Looking for something, but forgot what it was.
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 4,910
Arrggh! WTF??
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« Reply #51 on: October 16, 2008, 02:06:37 PM » |
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I just finished Codrescu's The Blood Countess. Good read, if a little bloody. Learned a little bit about a part of Europe I am not familiar with.
On to Endo, The Sea and Poison.
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Stop plate tectonics!
and while we're at it ...
Free kittens!
and
Free the bound morpheme!
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indianalitchick
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« Reply #52 on: October 16, 2008, 09:07:04 PM » |
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Other recent reads include The Meaning of Night: A Confession by Michael Cox and The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield.
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conjugate
Compulsive punster and insatiable reader, and
Member-Moderator
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 17,026
Tends to have warped sense of humor
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« Reply #53 on: October 16, 2008, 11:22:04 PM » |
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Because I needed something to read, and lost my place in one book and misplaced the other book (they were on my bed; a cat barfed on the bed sheets; laundry is ongoing, thanks) I started, and nearly have finished, Rex Stout's The Black Mountain. Yes, I know, the books feature a misogynist character. Weird and cranky as he is, he doesn't dissuade me from the stories, now a half-century and more out of date. I suspect the stories may play some role in Cook's "Garrett, P.I." series as a source of inspiration.
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Unfortunately, I think conjugate gives good advice.
∀ε>0∃δ>0∋|x–a|<δ⇒|ƒ(x)-ƒ(a)|<ε |
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marlborough
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« Reply #54 on: October 17, 2008, 12:23:08 AM » |
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I love Rex Stout--Nero Wolfe and Archie are always a lot of fun. Is the Black Mountain the one where they go to Montenegro?
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conjugate
Compulsive punster and insatiable reader, and
Member-Moderator
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 17,026
Tends to have warped sense of humor
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« Reply #55 on: October 17, 2008, 12:43:55 AM » |
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I love Rex Stout--Nero Wolfe and Archie are always a lot of fun. Is the Black Mountain the one where they go to Montenegro?
That's it. My father collected them, but lots of the paperbacks (that he purchased for 60¢ or less) are falling apart. I have a hardcover omnibus somewhere, published much later, and some of the Robert Goldsborough stories from the mid-'80s. But there's nothing like the originals, I think. In The Best Families (1950) is amazing. |
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Unfortunately, I think conjugate gives good advice.
∀ε>0∃δ>0∋|x–a|<δ⇒|ƒ(x)-ƒ(a)|<ε |
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marlborough
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« Reply #56 on: October 17, 2008, 12:56:31 AM » |
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I loathe the Goldsborough re-writes, especially trying to update them to the present (entering the orchid records on a computer, etc.)
There was a hilarious piece done years ago making the case that Wolfe is the bastard child of Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler, born in Montenegro in 1892.
I did like the TV versions A&E did with Timothy Hutton as Archie. They were very stylish.
It is worth it to check in and see what Nero is eating every day from Fritz's kitchen.
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daurousseau
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« Reply #57 on: October 17, 2008, 03:43:21 PM » |
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I just finished Codrescu's The Blood Countess. Good read, if a little bloody. Learned a little bit about a part of Europe I am not familiar with.
On to Endo, The Sea and Poison.
You might enjoy the movie as well. Google images for Paloma Picasso and look for the blood. If anyone is in Atlanta this weekend, the Ensemble Transilvania is dancing at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center. |
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ufo_tofu
Soy-based
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 1,909
Illegitimi non carborundum
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« Reply #58 on: October 18, 2008, 05:55:02 PM » |
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I haven't read any zombie books lately, but I did just buy my SO Zombie Island, which he appears to be enjoying. Recently, I've read:
The Bookseller of Kabul - very engrossing, a very quick read
Digging to America by Anne Tyler - yuck
When You Are Engulfed by Flames by Sedaris - best since Me Talk Pretty One Day
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Wash: Don't know. I'm starting to like this poetry thing. "Here lies my beloved Zoe, my autumn flower… somewhat less attractive now that she's all corpsified and gross-" [Zoe hits him with a pillow]
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sikora
Looking for something, but forgot what it was.
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 4,910
Arrggh! WTF??
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« Reply #59 on: October 19, 2008, 10:36:07 AM » |
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Just started Hansen's The Assination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.
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Stop plate tectonics!
and while we're at it ...
Free kittens!
and
Free the bound morpheme!
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