I don’t “read” books anymore – floating eye causing the print to bounce about but I listen to audio books almost compulsively!
Lately I have become addicted to Stephen King, I always dismissed him a horror writer but I loved the films The Shoreshank Redemption and The Green Mile so much that I decided to give it a go. I’ve read:
“Bag of Bones”, “11.22.63” and “Under The Dome” – all of which were gripping.
Funny you should say that about Stephen King, Jane. I’d always dismissed him as probably a “trashy” author, too, until my mum handed me a copy of The Green Mile, which she’d got from my brother, and said she’d really enjoyed it! I thoughtL “What??? MY MUM is reading Stephen King?” Seemed unlikely - although she doesn’t mind a good scare. So I thought: “Well, she can’t put up with tripey writing, so it might be worth a go.”
Thought it was excellent - and never an overt horror story, although it does have supernatural elements, and a particularly harrowing execution.
Haven’t got round to reading another one yet, but I definitely thought I’d misjudged Stephen King, and been wrong to dismiss it as: “probably tripe”. Would read another for sure.
Tina
x
One great Stephen King book is Rose Madder. Has his usual bizarre features but I think it’s my favourite of his. Had Sycamore Row by John Grisham and The Gods of Guilt by Michael Connelly for Christmas. Both a great read for different reasons. Sycamore Row is a ‘sequel’ to A Time to Kill, John Grisham’s first novel. Really enjoyed the links between the 2 books. Love all Michael Connelly books although I find Harry Bosch a more sympathetic character than Mickey Haller. Good cop .v. Lawyer and the cop usually gets my vote! Gone Girl is also a good read. Not keen on the ending though… Thanks for this thread! Think I need to join a book group. Ann xx
Hi Dr F, Spacejacket and Corkie
So pleased you enjoyed the idea of Mark Purdey’s Animal Pharm. Dr F, your Dad will too, I’m sure. It made me terribly sad to learn that Mark Purdey had died. He fought so hard against the ‘powers that be’ and they knew he was onto something. Please check out Mark’s videos on Youtube and his website, www.markpurdey.com. He has a dedicated following all around the world and I for one am a true believer in what he had to say.
As for James Fallen’s The Psychopath Inside. The brain fascinates me too. The inside sleeve sets the tone beautifully- While researching serial murderers, he uncovered a distinct neurological pattern in their brain scans that helped explain their cold violent behaviour. A few months later he learned that he was descended from a family with a long line of murderers, which confirmed that Fallon’s own brain pattern wasn’t a fluke.
As a scientist convinced that humans are shaped by their genetics, Fallon set out to reconcile the truth about his brain with everything he knew about the mind, behaviour and the influence of nature versus nurture on our personalities. How could he, a successful scientist and a happy family man with no history of violence, be a psychopath? How much did his biology influence his behaviour? Was he capable of some of the atrocities perpetrated by the serial killers he had studied?
I’m really going to enjoy learning more.
Best wishes everyone.
Tracyann xx
Just revisiting Bleak House…seems about 2 years now and still nowhere near the end…I’d forgotten how long it is! Very fitting that yesterday my sister told me about another ancestor she’s discovered called, Easter Maude xxxxx, what a pretty Dickensian style name and reason for it (she was born on Easter Sunday18??, just can’t get as interested as my sis, although I’m sure she did tell me the date!) I will be moving on to re-reading some Damon Runyon and some Margaret Atwood and possibly some more Dickens maybe Thomas Hardy…bit fed up of court room dramas, guns and murders (bit odd as I’m reading Bleak House, lol)…The Kindle is a dangerous thing way too easy to download books, although I so still buy physical books when I really love them! Alison x
Jojo Moyes - Me before you.
The hunger games trilogy.
The above are my most recent reads and i loved them!
My hubby got me a kindle for xmas so will be reading more frequently. These suggestions are great!
Teresa.x
It’s not the most pleasant of reads as the details are brutally chilling but I have just finished ‘Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain’s Gulag in Kenya’ by Caroline Elkins. It won the 2006 Pullitzer Prize for non fiction and was the basis for the BBC documentary ‘Kenya: White Terror’. I found it barely comprehensible that so soon after the end of the WWII and the release of the POWs in Japan and those in the European concentration camps that we were inflicting the same horrors on another population.
Another recommendation for Kate Mosse - Labyrinth, Sepulchre and The Winter Ghosts are all excellent. My son has just bought me her collection of short stories for Christmas (The Mistletoe Bride) so I’m looking forward to that.
I also recently read The Yard by Alex Grecian which is a story set in London following Scotland Yard’s detectives just after the failure of catching Jack the Ripper. It was the most gripping story I had read for a long while and written in quite an unusual style.
Tracey x
Hi there, I’m recommending ‘Tiny beautiful things’ by Cheryl Strayed - a courageous, charming, heartbreaking, funny (did I mention funny??), really worth reading account of life, as advised by an advice columnist. Lia