I'm with sundae. that book was excellent. intricate.

I disagree. It was hack writing; I think she was being paid by the word.

:)


ANYWAY - I adored Kate Atkinson and am getting two more of her books at the library along with some Esther Freud!

We can't all like the same things - it would make life boring.

I was thinking of this when I went to get Grandad's shopping today.
Two miles in the tall heat, occupied by an internal monolgue which effectively boiled down to you are wrong.

When I got home I realised it was unfair and unnecessary.
And after all, anyone who likes Kate Atkinson is alright in my book(s).
Just hope you like Esther Freud now...
And I'm very flattered you followed my recommendation despite the mismatch :heart-on:

I'm reading the second in the Chaos Walking series (trilogy? not sure yet) by Patrick Ness - The Ask and the Answer. The first book, The Knife of Never Letting Go was so captivating, I've read it about 5 times. I was waiting for the papernack to come out, but a generous benefactor sent me a birthday prize and I capitulated and bought the hardback.

It's good, but not quite as good as the first. Well, I'm a third of the way through so maybe that's not fair. The premise of the first was breathtaking, so of course another novel set in the same scheme of things can never have quite the same impact. But it's emotionally engaging, the characters are as conflicted as previously and I feel their hurt as much. I haven't cried yet - but I suspect Ness has something up his sleeve... Like Atkinson, the emotional impact of his words remain long after you finish reading.

Oh, it's technically a children's book. Blimey - they have to be so much tougher than we were if they have the stomach for this. It's a battering. In a good way. I'll always venerate Rowling for making it is acceptable to read good children's literature. It was my guilty secret for so many years. Although bless her - even the Deathly Hallows doesn't approach the intensity of this. Horses for courses.

Ah, I'm too harsh a critic because it's the only fun I have these days (critizing, that is!)

There are few authors I get excited about but Atkinson is definitely one of them.

I guess I'm not a romance kind of reader, either, like Clod said. I prefer horrid circumstances, abuse, murders, tragic landscapes, haunted houses, the emotionally destryoed, the drug addled, the incarcerated, the tortured soul and the curiously suspect.

I'm really just a Poe girl at heart. :reaper:

FWIW I read the Bridges of Madison County when it was first popular and laughed my fool head off - I thought it was the dumbest book ever.

I can tell you what I'm not reading: Amish Chick Lit. Apparently it is the thing in the Wally Worlds, because I passed a whole cardboard rack of them. I don't know if it is one character named Rebecca, or if other Amish chicks feature in the others. I didn't see "Rebecca Does Dallas." I'm guessing most of it is about pure and chaste love, perhaps a buggy chase thrown in for excitement. Seriously.

hehe I've seen that stuff Shawnee. scary. i'm miffed now, thouhg, because after all thos rave reviews I rdered TTTW from the library and it just came in this morning. But now I suspect i'll hate it because i don't "do" romance either. Ah well. Might as well try it after all that effort. you never know......

Chris Crutcher write good teen books -"boy" teen books

Keep in mind I hate lots of things that everybody likes. Dune, Harry Potter, Star Trek, Star Wars, the whole Kushiel's Whatever series, Chuck Palahniuk, some Heinlein... I'm just a misanthrope.

the women of the cellar HAVE all gone mad

If it makes you feel better, I'm still really loving the Peter F. Hamilton book. I'm only, like, 200 pages further than I was the last time it was mentioned, but still...

I am mad, it's true. I have a Community Psychiatric Nurse visiting me at home for goodness sake!
So what does it make all these others?
Barking. And that's a proper mental health care term.

Just finished Kate Atkinson's HUMAN CROQUET - twas brillig.

I like 'Barking Mad'

Clive Cussler's Medusa

I'll let you know how it goes...

Do you read it using a mirror?

I loved Behind the Scenes at the Museum. Again (Like Time Travellers Wife) I read it with zero expectations, having never heard of it, and was just delighted by it in every way.
@ Monster: I loved TTTW but I am no fan of romance stories generally. For me it was more of a tragedy. The star crossed lovers. There was somehting strangely parental about his love for her. It played with the conventions of romance, but to me was something quite different.