Thank you Ren, I live in St. Ives, looking directly east towards Godrevy lighthouse. Moved down here back in 1975 when I was 14..

Ah. We are from the other coast, but I have been to StIves a few times. Thanks.

I'm on a permanet holiday. lol

Have you ever met a man with seven wives? When I was a child, I always thought that St Ives must be an odd place, with all that polygamy.

I am sure there is a lot of it going on, we are a weird lot, the Cornish.
Anyway, sorry I went off topic, Tom!
I am just off to the library, Maggie , if you are there, I ordered all the Barbara Trapido books they have in stock.

Man, now I'm going to start confusing Starlord with Tezza.

Anyways, I'm once again reading The Girl who Played with Fire. It's just out in cinemas, so I thought I should do a quick refresher.

Oooh! I hope you enjoy them! Do let me know!

I just couldn't put the first one down (Noah's Ark) !
What a fascinating writer. I am really loving it. Thanks so much.

I have just finished "The Four Seasons" by Mary Alice Monroe. Really enjoyed it - must check to see what else she has written.

Just finished "The Thirteenth Tale" by Diane Setterfield. Very unusual in that it's written in the Gothic style of a ninetenth century novel although it's set in the twentieth century. It started slowly, but rapidly became 'unputdownable'. It's the story of a very popular writer who is dying, and decides to reveal her life story to a woman who prefers books to people, and has many unresolved issues in her own life. Very highly recommended. I'm sorry it's finished now, and even sorrier that it's the author's first book, and so there'll be nothing else till she publishes her second!

I just finished "Dragongirl" by Todd MCcaffery. His mom should never have let him play in her sandbox. The story seems empty to me.

Just finished reading Monday's Warriors, written by Maurice Shadbolt CBE. It's a fascinating historical novel, based on the the early days of the British colonisation of New Zealand. The central characters are Kimball Bent , an American from Maine who joined then deserted the British army, and a Maori chief named Titokowaru
The novel is written in a most unusual and stylish manner, almost poetic at times, but interspersed with actual historical accounts and personalities.
I thoroughly recommend it!

You should see some of the street names, Court Cocking is an example.

Well I finished The Lost Book of Enki yesterday and a thoroughly interesting read it was. I've written a quiz on the book that went online today and I'll probably do a second one to. A word of warning though, it is tough as most people wont have a clue about this particular subject as it isn't taught in western schools.

Piquero, on your recommendation I bought it and I am LOVING it! So thanks for that. What you didn't mention is how funny it is too. A great read.

"Lone Wolf" by Linwood Barclay. Barclay has made a bit of a career about writing mystery/thrillers where the characters are very much regular people - no tech-savvy martial-arts experts here. His typical protagonist would be a dad who stumbles into intrigue while mowing the lawn. His books are similar to Harlan Coben's, who is a bigger name, but in my opinion, Barclay's characters are more realistic and likable than Coben's.

This particular book is one of a series - the main character is a loving but rather controlling husband and father. Very tongue in cheek, quite amusing, and well plotted. The first book in this series, "Bad Move" is actually a mini classic of its genre, IMO. This one isn't quite so great, but I'm still enjoying myself just fine.

Hello everybody!
I'm new at this forum, so it's nice to meet you all!I'm currently reading Stephen King's "Under the Dome"... scary stuff!

A while back I mentioned that I was reading a walking memoir by one of my favourite authors, Lawrence Block. While waiting for some new books to get into the library, I'm rereading some of his stuff, and just finished what I believe might be the very best modern detective novel, his "Eight Million Ways to Die". (The title is taking off from the old tagline from the show "The Naked City" - "There are eight million stories in the naked city....")

I'd compare this book to Sayer's "Gaudy Night" - it couldn't be more different in terms of tone, or subject matter, or style, but remember how in "Gaudy Night" we have a good well plotted mystery, and also a very real and moving personal story? Peter and Harriet are solving the case, while at the same time Harriet is allowing herself to realize that she does love Peter.

In Block's book, it's a much grittier mystery, and a totally different personal journey. No love story here, but a story that I find incredibly moving. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who only likes a nice clean cosy mystery, but if you don't mind some violence and edge, it would be my pick for best mystery of the last fifty years.

I love Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder novels. Such great characters. Not as fond of his other series.

"Pacific Coast Highway" by Stephen Smoke. It's a low-brow murder mystery, but I picked it up because winter's coming to the southern states and I'm missing California.

Once again, I'm rereading the Harry Potter series. They never fail to make me happy.

Next on the list is A Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. I've heard some really good things about it.

Lightning by Dean Koontz. I read anything about time travel that I can get my hands on. I found this on a list of suggested time-travel novels and Koontz is always a quick read. It's about a man who repeatedly time travels to save the life of the woman he loves, but also throws in some historical aspects of WWII and Adolf Hitler. I can't say much more than that without giving too much away.

Finally reading The Picture of Dorian Gray...oh my gosh. I'm only about 40 pages into it, but the prose is exquisite...I keep getting carried away in the beautiful English and forgetting what I'm actually reading.
So good.

Try "Replay" by Ken Grimwood.

Thats got a nice take on the going back in time thing.

Been reading (a light read, yes) Pop Surf Culture: Music, Design, Film, and Fashion from the Bohemian Surf Boom by Brian Chidester & Domenic Priore.

Most of what's discussed in the book on the surf culture and music I already knew. But there's a lot of photos I hadn't seen or better, hadn't seen collected in one place. This could serve as a fine read for those wanting to learn about the beginnings of surf culture, and surf instrumental music in particular. Could have gone more in depth on the current surf music scene but regardless, the book makes me wish it was summer all year long.

La Curée by Emile Zola (in English translation The Kill)

"Slaughterhouse-5" by Kurt Vonnegut. Again!

When I was younger I couldn't stand re-reading books...never saw the point in reading a book agian when you already know how it ends. Vonnegut, I can read over and over. So Slaughterhouse-5 has kind of become the book I read in between books

Have you all read all your Christmas books?
I have, and I am now going to read a set of 4 that I never got in to before. I have had a set of "A Dance to the Music of Time" by Anthony Powell which I picked up at a sale for years. I read a bit last night and it might be good. Does anyone know it?

No Ren, I haven't read anything by Anthony Powell. I'm still reading my Christmas books ... I've not long finished David Mitchell's 'The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet' - which I couldn't put down once I started, and have just finished the first part of Naguib Mahfouz' Cairo Trilogy ('Palace Walk'). Mahfouz was really hard to get into - if it wasn't a Christmas present from my daughter I might have abandoned it ... really dense prose, stifling ... but about two-thirds through it came alive and now I've leapt straight into the second volume, 'Palace of Desire'. It's the story of a Muslim family in Cairo which starts off during the 1914-18 war ... religion, morality, hypocrisy and patriarchal oppression. Heavy stuff.

Oooer! Yes it does sound a bit indigestibly heavy for post Christmas, so well done!