Bred Any Good Rooks Lately?

Notaro

The House Of Silk is good, I read it a couple of years ago, I thought Horowitz was quite respectful of the Holmes character. 

GNTLGNT

VOLUNTARY COMMITTAL, Joe Hill, Rare Subterranean Press Chapbook, #145 Signed

....this is a CD auction....I quickly lost out on the bidding war....I stopped at 101 bucks, it's now over 200 and climbing.....I love Joe, but nope.......

Hedda Gabler

My reading attention span is suffering but i am making slow progress with the  Book Woman of Troublesome Creek.  I’m making even slower progress with Dark Fire because book woman is due back at library first. 

I haven’t checked yet to see if i’m able to extend my check out time. I hope so. 

Kurben

Finished The House of Silk yesterday. A true homage to Holmes and Doyle. The main difference i noted, and that is not meant in a negative way, is that it was way more descriptions of poor, lower class people and how they lived compared with a Holmes story in the classic mold. 

GNTLGNT

GNTLGNT said:

VOLUNTARY COMMITTAL, Joe Hill, Rare Subterranean Press Chapbook, #145 Signed

....this is a CD auction....I quickly lost out on the bidding war....I stopped at 101 bucks, it's now over 200 and climbing.....I love Joe, but nope.......

....auction closed with a winning bid of $520.......

Kurben

Finished Fall of The Giants by Ken Follett. Historical novel centered around WW1 with families from Austria, Germany, England, Wales and the US to give many viewpoints. In the whole a bit too long for its own good but really good in parts. It starts in 1910 and ends in 1923. I'm considering the followup World in Winter which centres around the same families or their descendants in WW2. It starts in 1933 and ends in 1950.

Kurben

Started Venus Envy by Rita Mae Brown. i like the humor in it, Even if the books underlying subject is serious, its about a woman who is informed she is dying of cancer decides not to die a stranger so she writes letters to friends a family telling them what she really thinks of them and things they do not know about her including that she is gay. But she is misdiagnosed. There is no cancer and she lives. The book is written in the early 90,s and i don't know but i could imagine that was not something that went well in the upper classes of Virginia at the time. What makes this work for me is not so much the story but the humoristic glint in the eye style of writing that makes you smile several times as she tries to handle the situation she has placed herself in. 

GNTLGNT

Kurben said:

Started Venus Envy by Rita Mae Brown. i like the humor in it, Even if the books underlying subject is serious, its about a woman who is informed she is dying of cancer decides not to die a stranger so she writes letters to friends a family telling them what she really thinks of them and things they do not know about her including that she is gay. But she is misdiagnosed. There is no cancer and she lives. The book is written in the early 90,s and i don't know but i could imagine that was not something that went well in the upper classes of Virginia at the time. What makes this work for me is not so much the story but the humoristic glint in the eye style of writing that makes you smile several times as she tries to handle the situation she has placed herself in. 

...Venus Envy is also the "nom de plume" of a drag queen.....

Kurben

GNTLGNT said:

Kurben said:

Started Venus Envy by Rita Mae Brown. i like the humor in it, Even if the books underlying subject is serious, its about a woman who is informed she is dying of cancer decides not to die a stranger so she writes letters to friends a family telling them what she really thinks of them and things they do not know about her including that she is gay. But she is misdiagnosed. There is no cancer and she lives. The book is written in the early 90,s and i don't know but i could imagine that was not something that went well in the upper classes of Virginia at the time. What makes this work for me is not so much the story but the humoristic glint in the eye style of writing that makes you smile several times as she tries to handle the situation she has placed herself in. 

...Venus Envy is also the "nom de plume" of a drag queen.....

Didn't know that! Has s/he taken the name after the book??The woman in the book is just tall, blond and beautiful which she sometimes feels is a hindrance because people think she is stupid which she isn't.

GNTLGNT

....I don't know buddy....just found it a humorous coincidence.....

Grant87

Currently reading The Living Dead by George Romero and Daniel Kraus.  Really liking it so far.

Kurben

Started The Tudors by Jane Bingham. Good disposition of the book. Starts with the birth of Henry VII and ends with the death of Elisabeth I in 1603. She and i have different opinions on Henry VII and also on the reliability on some sources like for example Polydore Virgil. Considering that he arrived in England in 1502 as a young untrained 17-year old i dont think you can trust him on Henrys early reign (1485-1509) and definitely not on his opinion on Richard III since he had been dead for 17 years when he arrived. It must be at best second hand sources and in many cases gossip. But thats is a minor flaw. She writes well and the narrative has a good flow.

cat

I read News of the World by Paulette Jiles because Tom Hanks is in the movie. It was a good story, but a bit uneven. There would be pages and pages of "filler" and then all of a sudden the characters were in a new town. Some of the filler parts could have been used towards the journey. Instead of making me feel like I was traveling and then caught a time machine for the last however many miles to the next town. But I think the story will translate well to the screen. 

Now I am rereading Harry Potter. Have zipped through books 1 and 2, started book 3 last night. Really enjoying them. 

GNTLGNT

cat said:

I read News of the World by Paulette Jiles because Tom Hanks is in the movie. It was a good story, but a bit uneven. There would be pages and pages of "filler" and then all of a sudden the characters were in a new town. Some of the filler parts could have been used towards the journey. Instead of making me feel like I was traveling and then caught a time machine for the last however many miles to the next town. But I think the story will translate well to the screen. 

Now I am rereading Harry Potter. Have zipped through books 1 and 2, started book 3 last night. Really enjoying them. 

....The Potter series is a nice morsel for your soul.....

Kurben

Finished the Tudors. It was good, sometimes brushed over some aspects of the reigns a bit too quickly, especially Henry VIII and Elisabeth.
Started The Hundred Years War by Desmond Seward. Trying to make sense of the extremely long and complicated conflict between basically France and England even if other powers got involved now and then. Started in 1337 and ended in 1453. Continues to throw shadows over the relations up to this day. I have found it difficult to find a real good history of this war. Mainly because the ones available are most by english authors and focused on the great english victories at Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt but tend to play down the equally if not even more decisive victories of the french. After all, the french did win the war in the end but when you try to associate battles or persons with the war i think of english victories and kings. The one exception is Joan of Arc. But Seward has so far been good at seeing it from both sides and using both french and english sources. 

Hedda Gabler

Kurben, can you recommend a good book about joan of arc?  A fictional one based on actual history would be the most enjoyable.  

Kurben

Well.....  I have actually not read a historical novel based on her life. Two i heard of that sounds promising are: The Maid by Kimberly Cutter and Blood Red, Sister Rose by Thomas Keneally (he who wrote Schindlers List). I know Mark Twain wrote about her but are unsure if it was fact or fiction.
A good easily read fact book that i enjoyed was The Virgin Warrior by Larissa Juliet Taylor

GNTLGNT

Hedda Gabler said:

Kurben, can you recommend a good book about joan of arc?  A fictional one based on actual history would be the most enjoyable.  

....not sure, but this is a possible maybe?.....

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0670023337/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&tag=boorio-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=0670023337

Kurben

GNTLGNT said:

Hedda Gabler said:

Kurben, can you recommend a good book about joan of arc?  A fictional one based on actual history would be the most enjoyable.  

....not sure, but this is a possible maybe?.....

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0670023337/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&tag=boorio-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=0670023337

This is more about Yolanda (The queen in the title) than Joan and the connection between them is purely speculative. It is, of course, possible that Joan had connections before she met the dauphin but who? No proof in any direction. Could have been Yolanda or somebody else. There could also have been noone. But a possible maybe, sure...

Hedda Gabler

I had to turn dark fire in to the library. No extensions on check out.  No one had it on hold. No one. So why couldn’t i keep it for another week?

but, i played the game. I put a hold on it before i checked it in and now it is ready for me to pick up.   Stupid but yay!

Kurben

Found The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey and thought it was worth checking out. His The Girl with all the gifts were great, One of the only two great Zombie-novels i've read. Put it in my TBR pile. Its more of a mountain than a pile by now......

GNTLGNT

Kurben said:

Found The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey and thought it was worth checking out. His The Girl with all the gifts were great, One of the only two great Zombie-novels i've read. Put it in my TBR pile. Its more of a mountain than a pile by now......

....if you decide to go on a zombie stagger, let me know......I love the genre and can make some suggestions.....ummmmmmm, tasty!........

GNTLGNT

Kurben said:

GNTLGNT said:

Hedda Gabler said:

Kurben, can you recommend a good book about joan of arc?  A fictional one based on actual history would be the most enjoyable.  

....not sure, but this is a possible maybe?.....

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0670023337/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&tag=boorio-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=0670023337

This is more about Yolanda (The queen in the title) than Joan and the connection between them is purely speculative. It is, of course, possible that Joan had connections before she met the dauphin but who? No proof in any direction. Could have been Yolanda or somebody else. There could also have been noone. But a possible maybe, sure...

.....good analysis bro......I just tossed it out there for her......

Kurben

GNTLGNT said:

Kurben said:

Found The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey and thought it was worth checking out. His The Girl with all the gifts were great, One of the only two great Zombie-novels i've read. Put it in my TBR pile. Its more of a mountain than a pile by now......

....if you decide to go on a zombie stagger, let me know......I love the genre and can make some suggestions.....ummmmmmm, tasty!........

I'm always interested in good Zombie novels suggestions! My top two are World War Z by Max Brooks and The Girl With all the Gifts by M.R. Carey. Then i hold Jonathan Maberrys various efforts in the genre high, Like Patient Zero, Rot & Ruin and Dead Of Night. Handling The Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist is another good one. A bit further down but still good are Feed by Mira Grant and Pride and prejudice and zombies by Seth Graham-Smith. (if you dont mind the both parody of and the use of Austens title to sell copies). Then of course I am Legend by Matheson, Cell by King and The Passage by Justin Cronin. I'm sure i forgot some i read..... I remember one book where there is a company arranging hunting tours on zombies in an area but something goes very wrong and the hunters become the hunted. Forgot who wrote it though.....

Neesy

Kurben said:

GNTLGNT said:

Kurben said:

Started Venus Envy by Rita Mae Brown. i like the humor in it, Even if the books underlying subject is serious, its about a woman who is informed she is dying of cancer decides not to die a stranger so she writes letters to friends a family telling them what she really thinks of them and things they do not know about her including that she is gay. But she is misdiagnosed. There is no cancer and she lives. The book is written in the early 90,s and i don't know but i could imagine that was not something that went well in the upper classes of Virginia at the time. What makes this work for me is not so much the story but the humoristic glint in the eye style of writing that makes you smile several times as she tries to handle the situation she has placed herself in. 

...Venus Envy is also the "nom de plume" of a drag queen.....

Didn't know that! Has s/he taken the name after the book??The woman in the book is just tall, blond and beautiful which she sometimes feels is a hindrance because people think she is stupid which she isn't.

I looked it up Kurben - turns out this is a female drag queen

https://www.reddit.com/r/Drag/comments/6lac3o/happy_fourth_of_july_my_name_is_venus_envy_and_im/