What book you reading ?

[Florence Fennel]

The Magicians Assistant by Anne Patchett

[1batfastard]

Hi All,
Rary:- I think you have hit the nail on the head with your comment, so often the books are superior to the films in characters and storyline, not only that but it's somebody else version of the story the problem is that the Witcher has a plethora of history with it apart from the books i.e. being the video games it has spawned and where most of the fans come from.

Andraste:- I think your comment is particularly true as half written storylines turned into books just seem to be cheating the fans ( Alla G R R Martin and the final GOT book). All that the fan wants is a completed novel, Conclusion not if's but's and maybe's. Obviously if there is to much material then either the author saves it for a second part or has to end the novel and draft the material into a new adventure etc. etc. etc.

As with the Witcher series the main complaint from HC was the writers where not keeping true to the book, to me changing characters/stories or even jumbling them up out of sequence seems to be the MO and not involving the book writer is a complete failure of any books adaption to screen again as in the Witcher bring the author in late looks like desperation and by then the series has gone off on another tangent already IMO.

Anyway I am currently seven chapters into ' Staying Up by Rik Gekoski ' (Again I have had this book like most of my books being honest sitting on the shelf silently waiting it's turn to be read.

Being a life long supporter of CCFC through the tempestuous seasons that have taken the fan on a yearly ' will they won't they voyage ' no matter what division they have been in, the book is a little insight into a fans view of his team at it's lowest and it's highest points.

WHAT IS LIFE LIKE BEHIND THE SCENES AT A PREMIERSHIP FOOTBALL CLUB?

Until this book, every fan was dying to know the answer to this question. In 1997-98, Rick Gekoski became the first supporter to be allowed into the inner sanctum of a top club, Coventry City. This is his account of their struggle for survival in the toughest league in the world; the journey of a stranger in a hostile land where the natives are suspicious of outsiders and do not speak his language. What he discovered surprised him and will surprise the reader too.

'If I had known that you were going to write this sort of book, I never would have allowed you access to myself or the team. Having said that, I think it's one of the best books about football ever written. The closest anybody could get to what it's really like' Gordon Strachan, manager of Coventry FC, to the author. (Courtesy of Google books)

EDIT:- A must read for any Coventry City fan or just a good read for any football fan in general for a little peek behind the curtain of a football club.

Geoff.

[Andraste]

I most enjoy books that come in a series so was really looking forward to 'Smolder', book 32 of Laurell K Hamilton's 'Anita Blake' series. They fall into the fantasy/paranormal fiction genre, with Anita cast as a vampire hunting necromancer, but after the first book or so there's a definite leaning toward mild-ish (depending on how sensitive you are) erotic fiction.

It's been 2 years since the last Anita Blake book & to be honest, I was disappointed. Just as the story gets going it ends without any satisfying conclusion or even a cliffhanger. Hamilton promised 2 book releases in 2023 but 'Smolder' is half a book. Fans & those who hate a story half finished now await the release of 'Slay', which will essentially be the 2nd half.

I'm left feeling a bit ripped off. There's a large part of me that feels they should be giving 'Slay' away free to anyone who bought 'Smolder' to thank them for continuing to buy books from this series, potentially since 1993 if they've been reading since book 1 was published. It's so blatantly 1 book split into 2 to maximise sales revenue that I feel they're taking advantage of a long-time readership base.

[rary]

Good evening, not on about reading a book, more to voice my disappointment in the film portrail of of books, two in particular, first was apple TV with their presentation of Isaac Asimovs Foundation series, their presentation is so far off from the book that it's a different story, second is Primes presentation of the Wheel of Time, they have the names right, but after watching it the past three nights I think I must have missed out on some of the books and yet I have the 14 volumes that was printed. Now I know there can be differences between book and film yet Peter Jackson has shown that with modern film technology films can be produced which follow closely the written word of the books, even Tom Cruises films of Jack Reacher is more accurate than those two presentations

[Andraste]

I've also read & thoroughly enjoyed 'Billy' - well reviewed Geoff

[1batfastard]

Hi All,
Nicos - I have had it for a while amongst other Biographies, I can't get over his father abusing him and Billy still having anything to do with him that really shocked me, I new he was abused but not in detail.

I also knew Billy had been in the territorials but not as a Para RESPECT! On the whole so far I am enjoying it as an insight to a favourite comedic entertainer of mine since the late 70's.

I have just started chapter five and hope the other four are as eye opening to say the least apart from an obvious miss :- Everybody dancing in the streets on D-Day I think she meant VE or VJ day. still I am looking forward to getting in even deeper into the real man behind what we see as fans.

I am not a big an of Ms Stephenson starting each chapter with what she and Billy where doing etc, etc, etc. I thought the book should concentrate on him alone and those little insight spoil the book IMPO but as I say generally a great fascinating read.

Geoff.

[Nicos]

Just finished Bilgewater by Jane Gardam

Fiction - about a girl growing up in a boy’s school where her father is a housemaster. Quite light and amusing .

[Andraste]

Hi all,

Just finished reading this thread from post #1 - shhh, don't tell anyone, I'm supposed to be working!

I'm without a new read at the moment

Miriam Margolyes 'This Much Is True' will hopefully drop through my letterbox in the next week or so - she's by far one of the most interesting women in the world in my opinion so I can hardly wait.

In the meantime I'm re-reading 'Dawnthief' by James Barclay, the first of his 'Raven' series which I really enjoy and would recommend to those who enjoy books like Sapkowski's 'Witcher'.

Not for the first time I wonder how I might go about procuring the film/tv rights to the Raven books as I can't believe no one's snapped it up. Maybe posting this here will stand in court as proof that it was my idea first

[mothhawk]

Where The Wild Flowers Grow, by Leif Bersweden

A botanical journey through Britain and Ireland.

[Nicos]

That’s a great book Geoff!

[1batfastard]

Hi All,
I just Started BILLY by Pamela Stephenson. I have been a fan of the ' Big Yin ' since I bought the Dbl Live Album Solo Concert in 1976 not long after leaving school and earning my first wages.

Billy, the revelatory, poignant, and wildly entertaining biography is written by the woman who knows him best--his wife. With insight and objectivity, Pamela Stephenson, a clinical psychologist, takes us through the heartbreaking and hilarious life of a comic legend and what made him the man he is today. The descriptions of Scottish life evoke the poignancy of the Ireland in Angela's Ashes as she tells of the troubled, abused. and desperately poor child in the docklands of Glasgow who grew up to shock and awe audiences around the world with his notoriously bawdy humor and a remarkable range of performances as a brilliant comic, a serious actor who played opposite Dame Judi Dench in Mrs. Brown, and the star of the U.S. television show Head of the Class. (Courtesy Google Books)

Geoff.

[1batfastard]

Hi All,
It doesn't matter what you are reading does it ? You are either educating yourself or just enjoying a good read where you can forget about the outside world and all the nonsense that is being forced upon us a good way to wind down after being wound up by life yes ?........

I started yesterday and am three chapters into Stephen Coonts - Saucer, the 1st in a trilogy of books.

A team of surveyors working in the Sahara happen upon an object buried deep in the rock. The object turns out to be a flying saucer and it is older than the rock it is buried in - 140,000 years old at least.

Rip, a student working with the team is keen to find out as much about the flying saucer as possible. But so are many other people, including the US Military, a team working for a billionaire American businessman and a group of Arabs.

Rip foils their attempts to commandeer the craft with the help of a disillusioned female pilot called Charley. Together they steal the saucer and Charley takes them both into orbit. Rip¿s plan is to take the saucer to his uncle¿s Missouri farm - but first he has to avoid being tracked down by everyone else. (Courtesy of Amazon)

Geoff.

[mothhawk]

Just finished The Chapel In The Woods by Dolores Gordon-Smith. A Jack Haldean 1920's mystery.

[Nicos]

The Snack Thief - Andrea Camilleri

An Inspector Montalbano Mystery ( the Italian detective series)

Great read and worth watching on TV too.

[nick the grief]

can I be boring and add a gardening book in here?

The seed Detective by Adam Alexander. Excellent book - in fact I have it as an Audible book too so I can listen at night.

Adam is a seed guardian for the Heritage seed library as well as a collector of seeds from around the world.