chuntzy

I am finding his 2016 ' Love You Dead' almost ridiculous. The 'ugly duckling" daughterturned femme fatale who, amongst other things, runs out of a hairy situation by changing planes three times in the U.S. under different aliases........c'mon!

I hope this improves. My credulity is being stretched too far.

Yes, Meg, fair point..

Half-way through Bel Canto by Ann Patchett and I suddenly lost interest.

In our house we saw every game and enjoyed the World Cup very much. I thl nk France will win but before it all began I was going to have a bet on Croatia. Um.

I was interested in this novel until about half-way through when I found myself checking how many pages to the end of the chapter. Not a good sign.

This historical thriller is set in 17th centiry Prague. Within 24 hours of arriving in the city Christian Stern, a natural philosophy student in his 20s, finds in the snow the murdered body of a young woman who he subsequently finds out was the mistress of the Emperor. Christian is taken up by Emperor Rudolph to find the killer and in doing so finds himself in a dangerous maelstrom of court intrigues etc. There is quite a lot of steamy sex as well. A very readable book. Benjamin Black is the name novelist John Banville uses for this genre. Y

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Xanadu so I can walk round with Coleridge's poem in my head.

The setting is south central Los Angeles an area inhabited by loads of gangs. I.Q. are the initials of a yoing high-achieving student distraught by the loss of a much-loved older and influential brother. Having no other family and unable to support himself he pals ip with an 'habitual offender' . The author is a devotee of Sherlocck Holmes and we see this in Isaiah's (I.Q.) deductive abilities: his partner is streetwise. A lot of the gangsta-style lingo of the inhabitants passed me by but the character of I.Q. saved it for me.

I agree with you Binker that it was a good first episode. I have read many of Edward St Aubyn's Melrose novels and am looking forward to the next episodes.

White Teeth - Zadie Smith

THE Woman in the Woods - John Connolly

The Ashes of London, an historical thriller by Andrew Taylor.

The Comfort of Strangers - Ian McEwan