Fiction ~ Old ~ New ~ Best Sellers #2

[marcie]

This is the place to talk about the works of fiction you are reading, whether they are new or old, and share your own opinions and reviews with interested readers. Every week the new bestseller lists come out brimming with enticing looking books and rave reviews. How to choose?

Discussion Leader:  Judy Laird

[marcie]

rosemarykaye, I love children's books too. When I was buying books the other day, someone said that I must have a lot of grandchildren. I had to confess that the books were mostly for me!! :-)

PatH, Ciaran Hinds also was very good in one of the film versions of Jane Austen's Persuasion. It took me a few minutes to get used to him in the role but then he had me hooked.

[PatH]

Indeed, Marcie, Hinds was excellent as Wentworth.  I own the DVD; I think the whole thing is a surprisingly successful example of translating a book that takes place inside people's heads to a visual medium.

Hinds is also good as Rochester in "Jane Eyre".  He plays it for the harsh, selfish side, which mostly gets damped down.

[Gumtree]

PatH -You're talking about one of my favourite actors agaaaain!  Cairan Hinds does the job no matter what he undertakes. Captain Wentworth was superb - as were Rochester and Henchard. He also played in the Veronica Guerin story of a reporter who uncovers a drug syndicate and gets the big guys - Hinds was a baddie in that one.  Miss Pettigrew was shown on TV here recently - it seemed a mild film but I was talking on the phone to my son during most of it - I thought I'd get it on my queue so I could really watch Hinds properly. Haven't read that book so might look for it at the library as well.

Meant to say, Hello  Rosemarykaye - I'm sure you will love this site.

[Steph]

I remember years ago that books about children left alone and surviving was a popular topic.. Mostly because we treasure independence, I suspect and the times were different. Now that would be an impossible topic for a book.

[fairanna]

Ahhhhhh  I have been ill for about 2 years  Not serious but just aging slows one down augh The weather the past two years contibuted I think  a COLD SNOWY WINTER a HOT DESERT LIKE SUMMER now that we have enough rain and I feel my flowers will recover I feel much better..Since I felt so listless I did a lot of reading  ---3 books every 14 days but to be honest I dont recall the names...which means they were ok I know several I returned to the  library partially read....I   just read Nicholas Sparks SAFE HAVEN it was okay but some of his others I enjoyed best. I read two of Jodi Picoult and enjoyed them but would have to read them again  to tell you about them I read THE HELP and found it interesting -----I looked through my bookcase and there are other authors I have read this year but none I can report on ...I dont recall them as well as Winds of War ,,books that I read years ago and know I liked them In fact unless they are real History books I can re-read a book 3 or 4 times and each time I find more I enjoy......in fact some books I read over the years I would like to read again to see if I enjoy them as much as I did..Will be checking back and getting some ideas and then I can give my opinion of what is being read.....With winter coming ( I guess  who knows what weather is going to be next> It is very fickle) I usually spend a lot of time reading .....hello to all I have known in the past...anna

[Babi]

 I'm thinking I might go back and read some of the old books, too.  It's been so long ago, it
will be almost like reading them for the first time.  And I've got shelves of them just sitting there.

[Frybabe]

Noel Streatfeild's books were mentioned in You've Got Mail. I had never heard of her before then. According to Wikipedia, she wrote some adult books too.

[Tomereader1]

PatH, go ahead and get the Miss Pettigrew DVD.  It may not be as good as the book, but it is very funny and light entertainment.

[Phyll]

So wonderful to see you again, Fairanna, but sorry to read that you have not been feeling well for so long.  I have hope that things will be better for you from now on.

I'm always so slow to catch up with you all....I'm just now reading Zeitoun and I know all of you have already read it and had a discussion about it, I suppose.  I rather avoided it because, frankly, I'm often disappointed in the latest "must read" book.  But, I'll admit this one is interesting me a lot.  It gives a different viewpoint of the disastrous hurricane that struck New Orleans than what we saw over and over on TV.  I know I sound hard hearted but after awhile viewing those same heart wrenching pictures day after day and hearing the terrible stories one after another I tend to start to tune them out from overload.  A few years after the fact and this well written story are giving me a good read.

[Aberlaine]

I'm reading Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann.  It's my book club's choice for November.  I'm having a very hard time with it.

Lately I've been listening to books on my mp3 player and am convinced that I enjoy listening to books being read much more than reading them myself.  Haven't figured out why yet.  I now have five books on my mp3 player:  Bridge of Sighs, Three Cups of Tea, On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Roses and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

I'm leaving for a nine-day cruise tomorrow and hope to get several of them finished before I get home.

[rosemarykaye]

I was probably a bit too negative about the Miss Pettigrew film - I went with my 15 year old daughter and she (not having read the book) loved it.  She was, however, disappointed by the Twilight film (though not by the lead actor  ) as it missed out bits of the book, which she had devoured (maybe that's not the best verb to choose when talking about vampires...) - I'm sure that's often the problem with film adaptations, especially when the book is one that you hold dear.  My mother (having read the novels) never approved of the BBC adaptation of the Forsythe Saga, which is now something of a BBC legend, so there's no pleasing us!

Rosemary

[Gumtree]

I loved the Forsyte Saga - both the TV series and the books. Still have them on my shelves. Would be interesting to reread them now. And you're right Rosemary - it is a BBC legend - almost comparable with Brideshead Revisited.

[Steph]

The original Forsythe Saga on BBC.. My husband fell in love with Irene.. I just loved the whole series. Went out, bought the books and plowed through them.. Loved them.. Ah the memories.

[rosemarykaye]

Oh Brideshead Revisited!  I only read the book and saw the programmes very recently - I think I probably wasn't allowed to watch it at home, and  I couldn't believe what I had missed.  The acting, the scenery, absolutely everything about it was wonderful.  When Sebastian takes Charles to Venice and they fling open the shutters to see the Grand Canal in all its glory it took me back to my own first trip to Venice a couple of years ago - the sheer beauty of it all was overwhelming.

Another TV drama that I have recently watched is A Dance To The Music of Time - again I was vaguely aware of it at the time but never saw it, and what pleasure it was to lie in bed and watch an episode each night.  Simon Russell Beale is such a brilliant actor.  I read all of the novels at the same time and enjoyed them very much.

I saw that discussion has already taken place here about The Jewel In The Crown - another fantastic adaptation that I did in fact see the first time, but have recently bought on DVD.  I didn't remember most of it so it was like watching it for the first time anyway - all I could really remember was how much I adored Art Malik and Charles Dance, and that certainly hadn't changed!

One that I would still like to see is The Balkan Trilogy - Kenneth Branagh and EmmaThomspn - has anyone seen that?  I haven't read the books either.

Rosemary

[Gumtree]

Rosemary - you've opened a tin of worms in my mind....

The Raj Quartet is superbly written. Paul Scott's prose is seamlessly perfect. We discussed the Jewel in the Crown and then a few of us continued on to read the other novels of the Quartet as well. We took our time and just commented back and forth a little as we went. Taken overall it is a complex piece of writing. Traude, our leader for that, was simply wonderful presenting an overview and summarising parts as we read. Oddly enough, only today I ordered Paul Scott's Staying On and Six Days in Marapore both of which I've wanted to read since we read the Raj.

I haven't heard anyone mention The Balkan Trilogy for years - I have the books somewhere about the place-  neglected and probably very dusty.

[fairanna]

 I read the time travelers wife and just watched the movie from Netflix...I wondered how they would tell it and I think they did the best they could.It was odd though I kept feeling I HAD seen the movie before but decided I became so involved with the story I imagined I had already seen the movie....It was well done but like books that are made into a movie and you have read them you either feel they did a great job or feel a bit sad because it wasnt what you remembered A month ago I took advantage of a sale at B&N and read one of the books last evening 340 pages in a larger sized book...one reason I knew I was enjoying it -----I READ THE WHOLE BOOK WITHOUT PEEKING TO THE END>>THREE WEEKS TO SAY GOODBYE BY C.J.BOX according to the cover his book BLUE HEAVEN was a New York Times was on the best seller list...

The characters seemed real and some were "characters funny ones too" it had a little bit of everything ...if you are at the library you might want to check it out. 

Looking forward to checking what you are reading and going to the library which is near 2mi max     and reading what you are enjoying and sharing what I am reading...dreary rainy fall day here .best to all anna

[rosemarykaye]

Anna, that's so true - I am terrible for reading the end of the book half way through - my husband thinks I am very strange, but it doesn't really spoil my enjoyment of the book - even of detective stories - as I am usually more interested in the characters and the location than the actual denoument.  I am just now reading an Ian Rankin Rebus book - they are set in Edinburgh, but it's a very different Edinburgh from Alexander McCall Smith's (if you have ever read the 44 Scotland Street books, which are great favourites of mine, and are all set in the New Town).  I have already read the end but I am still enjoying the middle!

Our weather is is horrible - it's turned very cold and windy, and having come back from my swimming and supermarket shopping I am looking forward to a cosy evening in (actually that's like most of my evenings, the only difference in the summer is that I am quite often gardening, but I like being at home).

Take care,

Rosemary

[rosemarykaye]

Gumtree, I would have loved to have taken part in that discussion.  Although it is now some months since I watched the Jewel DVDs, I still think of them often - favourite scenes, and sometimes really shocking scenes, like the arrival of the train ar Ranpur (I think) after the massacre of the Muslims.  I would like one day to go to India and see some of these places.  Staying On was also dramatised on the BBC years ago and I do remember it vaguely.

Do you think the Balkan Trilogy would stand the test of time?  I really must give it a try.

Rosemary

[PatH]

I've been a fan of "A Dance to the Music  of Time" since it was half-written.  (My husband and I started when about 5 volumes were out, and eagerly awaited each new book.)  Since then I've reread all 12 volumes several times, but the BBC drama wasn't released in this country, and I only recently saw it (Netflix).  Given what you had to do to shrink 12 books down to that size, it was an excellent job, and superbly cast.

[rosemarykaye]

Steph - regarding children's books, it is such a shame that these themes can no longer be used.  As a child I loved Enid Blyton - I know she is disapproved of now, but, having nothing whatsoever in common with the characters (they being  rich, going to boarding school, and always having handy relations in the country - me being not at all rich, going to local church primary school, and hardly ever leaving suburban London), I gobbled up the books, together with those of Malcolm Saville - I loved the idea of children managing by themselves.

My younger daughter is now very keen on the Robert Muchamore CHERUB books - I haven't read them but I understand they are all about children who are spies.  I don't know how he gets round the not being able to blow your nose without an adult present culture that we now have in this country - perhaps I should read one and find out.

So many modern children's novels seem to focus on day to day "issues" - parents divorcing, etc - all of which I am sure do need to be covered, but I think children still enjoy a bit of escapism just as much as we do.  It must be quite a challenge being a children's writer today, and it's maybe why some children's novels are set in the past - my daughter has also been reading Julia Golding, whose stories take place in 17th century (I think) London, so she is able to have abandoned children fending for themselves with no sign of the social services on the doorstep.


Rosemary

[Frybabe]

OH NO!!!! Another author and more books to add to my TBR list. 

Welcome, Rosemarykaye. I've added Ian Rankin's Rebus series to my list. I have fond memories of Edinburgh even though I wasn't there but two or three days. It was like I was home, like I belonged there. Strange feeling for a place I'd never seen before.

[rosemarykaye]

Hello Frybabe,

Sorry, I know how long my own TBR pile is....

Rankin's Rebus books are very good.  Alexander McCall Smith's are completely different but also very good - they are about various characters living in the mythical 44 Scotland Street (Scotland Street is a real street in the New Town), the people they are involved with, etc.  It's all very gentle and I love it - when I am walking around the New Town I am always saying Oh look!  There is Dundas Street/Glass & Thompson/The Scottish Gallery - or whatever.  Valvona & Crolla, a much celebrated Edinburgh delicatessen, features - in fact its sun-dried tomatoes are integral to one of the plots.

Of course, Trainspotting was also set in Edinburgh - yet another side of a fascinating city.  And there are also the wonderful Maisie McKenzie children's books, about a kitten who goes to live with her Granny in a close (building of tenement flats) in Morningside.  I used to read these books to my children and enjoyed trying to do the accents, especially that of the bossy neighbour, Mrs MacKitty, who is forever cleaning the stair or getting cross because someone else hasn't done so (it was traditionally taken in turns by all the residents) - my children, however, soon put a stop to that, I think they thought I was embarrassing, even at their tender pre-school ages 

Rosemary

[Steph]

Spent a week in Edinburgh about five years ago and loved it.. Even though it was April and cold as cold could be. Lots of wind.. Princess Anne was there in Holyrood House..for some event, but they still let us tour. The guide was very nice and showed us where the Queen sits during formal events, and explained the flags for the differeent royal family members, then we went off to the other end of the bus line and did the old Castle. Up the hill, wind and all. Loved it, but loved the whiskey distillery as you came out of the castle and walked down the hill. Dont like scotch, but loved the restaurant..
They also have a shop that sells every thing chocolate.. including making all sorts of Hot Cocoa.. Yum..

[MaryPage]

Funny you should mention the Forsythe Saga.  I was so excited when the second series was made, and in color yet!  I watched it on Masterpiece Theatre and then bought the DVDs.  Then, be still my heart, the first series came out on DVD.  Had watched it on DVD back in, oh, 1969-1970, I think. Could not wait to purchase it!

The acting was superb in both, but I prefer the first, black and white or no.  When I read the books, eons ago, I read library editions.  So I bought the trade paperback editions of all of them, I think in 9 volumes, and reread them, and passed them on to a friend who had never even heard about them.  Hey!, said I in a loud voice:  Galsworthy won the cotton picking Nobel Prize for Literature for the first set!

[rosemarykaye]

Steph -Edinburgh is nearly always freezing!  I think it must be those cold winds blowing up from the Forth.  But at least it is also frequently sunny, whereas Aberdeen sometimes seems to be clothed in a permanent veil of damp cloud.  And Edinburgh has wonderful coffee and tea shops - if you ever come again, let me know and I'll take you to some.

Mary - I felt just the same when they finally put The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie onto UK DVD earlier this year - I have an ancient, ex-library stock, video that my family is forbidden to touch in case it gets broken, so now the DVD is on my birthday list and I will feel secure once more!  Similarly I managed to track down a DVD of A Dance to the Music of Time on e-bay for £10 and was over the moon with joy to get it (at the time it was very rare) - although it too has been reprinted this year.

The BBC adaptation of the Forsythe Saga is, I think, lodged in the collective memory of our generation - I was quite young (yes really) when it came out, but Soames and Irene have remained clear in my mind from all those years ago.

Rosemary

[Gumtree]

Rosemary: So long since I watched Jean Brodie - I guess I'll play it this weekend... thanks for reminding me of that one.

Yes, Soames and Irene do stay in the mind. I think it's because of the tragic nature of their lives. Tragedy always touches us (me anyway) so much more than the happier and perhaps more fortunate characters.
Galsworthy's depiction of Soames was simply masterly- everything about him rings true. I thought Eric Porter was magnificent in the role of Soames.
If I keep thinking about the Forsyte much more I'll have to get hold of the DVD and watch it...

 And yes, Galsworthy did win the Nobel Prize but that prize is not awarded for a single work or saga (as is the Man Booker for instance,) but rather for the whole body of work a writer produces.

[Steph]

Ah,, I do remember Fleur, who was the heart of her father... She was a perfect flapper in type..Funny the tv shows that cause so much of our generation to go back in memory. There was another PBS.. That was about Scott and the scandinavian who got to the pole first. I had it on tape.. Loved it, watched it so many times. It made winter into a deadly enemy..

[Steph]

I think the name was Journey to the end of the World???

[salan]

My ddh and I were in Scotland about 5 years ago.  I ate my first (and only) fat rascal.  How could I resist something named "Fat Rascal"??  Yummy.  I've often wondered how it got its name.  We took a train from Edinburgh to Inverness.  Wonderful train ride and interesting scenery.  I am from Texas, and just had to send post cards of the "wooly cattle" to my Texas ranching friends.  It was in April, and we nearly froze to death; but I have lots of warm memories of that trip.
Sally

[maryz]

OK, what's a "fat rascal"?  We were in Scotland a couple of years ago, but never had that.

[jane]

I'm curious, too.  Haggis is what I remember...and the usual English breakfast fare of bangers, tomatoes, oatmeal (with a bottle of Scotch on the buffet by the oatmeal), various nuts, etc.

[Steph]

Dont remember a fat rascal, but somewhere in Indiana a couple of years ago, a donut shop had a large fat stick type donut and called it that.
The Black  pudding did me in and at breakfast yet.

[Babi]

 I found a description of a 'fat rascal' as a breakfast treat similar to a scone.  The picture showed
a circular shaped pastry, with what looked like two large raisins placed to look like eyes in a face.
Ah, yes...here they are. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fat_Rascal_cookies.jpg
  It's only fair to add that there are other things out there referred to as 'fat rascals', also.

[salan]

Ah me, my memory played a small trick on me!  I had a "fat rascal" in York, not in Scotland.  It was part of the same trip.  Maybe that's why I got the places mixed up.  Thank goodness for my travel journals.  I can always go back to them when I am uncertain.  A "fat rascal" is very similar to a scone--just fatter and richer.
Sally

[Frybabe]

I'm getting hungry!

[Steph]

So it is a pastry or doughnut type treat.. I am glad it was not Edinburgh since I would have sworn we had tried all sorts of stuff there.. Also we were in Aberdeen later.. Beautiful hotel.. We were going to a wedding about 45 minutes away.. Took train from Edinburgh to Aberdeen.. Lovely trip.

[maryz]

Steph, we flew into Edinburgh, and took the train to Glasgow to start our Elderhostel in the Highlands.  A terrific trip!

[Steph]

An elderhostel in the highlands.. I would love to see more of Scotland, maybe will look that one up.
I am considering another elderhostel in April.. Torn between one on
CSA in Deland , Florida ( sort of a boring little town) or driving to Savannah , since there is one on the history of the area.. Hmm..

[maryz]

It's a terrific program, Steph - we highly recommend it! It was called Highlands and Islands (I think).