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>>Was this any good MP? Patricia Cornwell lost me some time ago, I liked the first three or four Scarpetta novels, but got irritated by the inane dialogue in the later ones. And as for that sodding niece of hers...<<


I have got "Scarpetta" to read on holiday next month, but have to say I agree with you. I think I prefer both Kathy Reichs and Tessa Gerritsen out of that crowd, but of course our own Val McDermid really kicks ass!:)

marcusantonius Wrote:

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> The Secret Scripture - Christopher Barry. Well

> worth all the the acclaim. You could go so far as

> to say 'barry!'. Anyone know what his other stuff

> is like?


I think you will find it's Sebastian Barry The whereabouts of Eneas McNulty ?spelling is very good and is like a prequel to Secret Scripture some of the same characters and give an insight into where the mother in law is coming from. A long way home excellent a really good overview of the Irish in the 1st world war and the conflict between this & rising Nationalism my view anyway.

Currently the laugh a minute The White War - Life and Death on the Italian Front 1915-1919.


Became interested a few years back in finding out more about the conflict after stumbling across many of the battlefields whilst walking in the Dolomites (in fact we can thank the war for sheer number of paths and routes cut through the dramatic terrai)n.

But there was literally zilch in English. This is the first work to deal with it in any great depth outside of Italy or Austria.

  • 2 weeks later...

The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius.


Beautiful, poetical meditation on the fleeting nature of material possessions and institutional power, in comparison with the superiority of the intellectual realm.


Just out in a new, apparently more accessible, translation.


I initially baulked at the ?14. price tag (it's a slender hard-back of just 170 odd pages), but a comrade in the trade got me a copy for ?9 - still pricey, I thought - but you cannot truly put a price on this philosophical masterpiece!

Recent reads have been The Secret Art Of Stealing by Christopher Brookmyre, always like his stuff, Kill Your Friends by John Niven, which is a very funny satire on the music business in '97 and Ive just started Closing Time by Joseph Heller, his follow up to Catch 22.

bigbadwolf Wrote:

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> Winter in Madrid by C.J Sansom.

>

> Yes, it's another spy thriller but this time it's

> set in post civil war Spain. I've only just

> started it but I can feel it dragging me in.



It's good. I read that first and then read his Shardlake novels, none of which are as good as Winter in Madrid.

gallinello Wrote:

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> I've just finished 'The Damned United'- David

> Peace.

> An excellent read; depressing and gripping in

> equal measure.

> Thoroughly recommend it.

------------------------------------------


Me too......yeah!

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