What are you reading ... NOW!

[CaptainWaggett]

Not ideal but... interesting

I've never read any Powell but I suppose I shall get around to it eventually. There's an excellent biography of Raven called The Captain by Michael Barber.

Adam Raven

When Adam Raven was found dead in his cabin on a cruise liner, his body was put ashore in Barcelona. A last twist in his story is that the coroner lost his heart: it has still to be returned

[Windthrop]

I'm a Simon Raven fan and have just started his Doctors Wear Scarlet. This was filmed (I think it was the only one of his that was, plans to adapt his Alms for Oblivion series fell through in the 80s) as Incense for the Damned. I can but hope it turns out to be a quarter as bonkers as that was, but Raven rarely disappoints and the omens look good as he's named another character after a melon (we had Lord Canteloupe in AfO and a Professor Honeydew here).

In Bryan Forbes memoirs he states that Richard Attenbrough was going to direct Simon Raven's The Feathers of Death during his time at EMI.

[torinfan]

Plowed through the first 72 pages of "The First Scientist: A Life of Roger Bacon" by Brian Clegg in one sitting.

You know, I wish this was written and published 40 years ago. I remember being so frustrated at having first heard Roger's name when I was about 11 or 12 years old and the only information in our World Book encyclopedia simply labeled him an early mathematician, scientist and brass head owner. Not sure why there was a dearth of information back then where I grew up (which was settled by the British).

Bacon was one very extraordinary man. I still expect to read something in the book about his predicting the computer - bet he would have felt right at home with a Mac composing his books. :)

[dpgmel]

To anyone that knows my fondness for Rome and the Baroque it will come as no surprise that I am reading a biography of Gian Lorenzo Bernini

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bernini-His-...2504463&sr=1-2

[woody123]

Read The 39 Steps for the first time on Sunday afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed it.I always had kenneth more down as my favourite Hannay,but after reading the book Robert Powell's version is closest to the character in the novel.
Started a coffee table tome about one of my favourite bands,Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers this evening as there wasn't anything worth watching on the box.

[theuofc]

I picked up a used copy of Richard Corliss' (writer for TIME) TALKING PICTURES: Screenwriters in the American Cinema. I started with the section on Preston Sturges instead of Ben Hecht which came first in the book. I wanted to see what Corliss had to say about "The Lady Eve". Quite a lot and all of it interesting, witty, and very well written. I'm looking forward to the rest of the sections on the greats, including Billy Wilder (Some Like It Hot), Charles Lederer (His Girl Friday), Casey Robinson (Now, Voyager), Herman Mankiewicz (Citizen Kane), etc.

Highly recommended.

Barbara

[batman]

While enjoying a sun-filled and rain-free week on the Norfolk coast I read a quartet of excellent thrillers ..... Sanctus by Simon Toyne, Last Rituals by Yrsa Sigurdardottir, The Whisperer by Donato Carrisi and The Hypnotist by Lars Keppler.

[Windthrop]

Just got it today and started wading through it at lunchtime - Ash, the latest horror epic (700 pages) by James Herbert. So far so good. his last book (The Secret of Crickley Hall) was IMHO a return to form after some disapointing novels recently. Looking forward to seeing the BBC adaptation of Crickley Hall this autumn.

[orpheum2]

I was looking through the book recommendations on Amazon when i saw the Liz fraser autobiog flagged up.It claims that it is to be published on 19th October.We shall see.

[torinfan]

Five by Endo, five short stories by Shusaku Endo, translated by Van C. Gessel

[faginsgirl]

`Gillespie and I` by Jane Harris, a hillarious Victorian comedy by a superb new writer

[faginsgirl]

'Gillespie andI' has turned in to a very dark story indeed. A truly odd book to read

[Toscana]

Leslie Thomas This Time Next Week. As he says "The autobiography of an Orphan". Life in a Barnardos Home or Dickies as they called it. Great read of a time now long gone.

[Bernardo]

On the Light Reading Programme I am following what I believe to be the last book of the Falco series by Lindsey Davis: Nemesis, a sort of ancient Roman Colombo. There must be a few screenplays waiting to be written following his career. On the heavy side I am also trying to plough through Anglo Saxon England by Peter Hunter Blair. I would defy anyone to recount that with full lists of Kings and numerous saintly persons. Fascinating history though.

[cumberbatches_woman]

Im reading the second part to the Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy, very interesting indeed, a little racy in parts but there is a story around all that, after i read the first part i felt as if i knew the two main characters, Christian Grey and Anastasia "Ana" Steele, very well worth the read !!

[Windthrop]

Just got it today and started wading through it at lunchtime - Ash, the latest horror epic (700 pages) by James Herbert. So far so good. his last book (The Secret of Crickley Hall) was IMHO a return to form after some disapointing novels recently. Looking forward to seeing the BBC adaptation of Crickley Hall this autumn.

Sad to report that this long awaited novel is a disappointment. As much conspiracy thriller as a horror novel but without the style to carry the combination off. His writing trails off alarmingly towards the end. JH should stick to shorter, more concentrated novels IMHO.

[Mr Sloane]

[Still Standing: The Savage Years - the third (and final ?) part of Paul O'Grady's autobiography. I had already read the previous two At My Mother's Knee... And Other Low Joints and The Devil Rides Out: The Second Coming

I would whole heartedly recommend all three. This one I read wallowing in the bath and stories on successive nights. Well written,warm, witty, funny,at times moving and occasionally angry but always honest . It confirms my feeling with Paul that was you see is what you get and I think we ought to be thankful for what we get.

Apart from a final chapter which is about his current activities and future plans the third book finishes with the concurrent events of his mothers death and Paul cast on the The Bill and on the brink of fame and fortune with Lily. This makes Lily Savage a minor character in the books but in no way is she missed. The struggle through pubs and clubs eventually honing the act that became Lily is a rivetting read. You meet the people, family and friends, that have shaped him and Lily throughout the book.
What I particularily enjoyed were the chapters on Paul living in West Yorkshire. It really is a great surprise to read an actors's autobiography that has more about people I have met, pub acts and DJ's I have known set in pubs I have enjoyed ( and not). No luvvies here, a great read about a great working class hero.

[Tigon Man]

Brideshead Revisited

A very good read. Might try the 1981 telly series next.

[torinfan]

Matthew Arnold Poems

One of my favorite poets of all time.

[regen70]

I've just finished reading Salman Rushdie's compelling memoir 'Joseph Anton'. It's a very good read as you would expect from a writer of his talent and provides an interesting insight into how the protection services work. The notion of a string of 'safe houses' is apparently a myth (he had to arrange and pay for all of his accommodation during this period) and there is considerable rivalry between the various branches - the Royal Protection squad being held in some contempt by the others because of their tendency to leak stories to journalists. Naturally he derides those who called for his murder and I particularly was drawn to his description of pop singer Cat Stevens (aka Yusuf Islam aka Yusuf) who kept 'bubbling up like a fart in a bath'.
I'm looking forward to the film version of Mdnight's Children due soon, the production of which is discussed in the book.