Foinavon, thank you, thank you, thank you

I have been looking for something like that link for some time.  Nowadays there are a lot of 'continuation'  or 'pre' novels, like the film franchises, so it puts me off reading some of them, but now I can just look them up.

I had you down as such a cultured chap, Foinavon. ;-)

"Given that it features incest, rape, grave desecration, necrophilia and one character filling a terminally ill man’s saline drip with urine and semen, it is curious that the most shocking thing about Irvine Welsh’s new novel, A Decent Ride, is that it was published at all. Perhaps the whole thing should be read as a symptom rather than a story"

Not at all, Foinavon, it was the first review I discovered, hence the speech marks. For some reason I can't do italics.

"That is just one of the questions I couldn’t care less about. Terry’s penis not only gets plenty of use, even helping a young playwright forget about killing herself, but also its own voice, in chapters laid out typographically to look like an ejaculating penis. It is as if Welsh was so bored he decided to carve a willy on his desk". I'll stick to Enid, thanks. lol

I thought annie should be warned. Maybe she can't wait to buy it now. :-)

Foinavon
Date Joined:    11 Oct 00
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26 Nov 17 12:30 Joined: 11 Oct 00 | Topic/replies: 7,831 | Blogger: Foinavon's blog

not to mention the novels of Richard Stanley Francis.

Don't think I'll ever know, sounds much too cultured for me

I presume you mean Dick Francis, Foinavon? Quite appropriate with your name

I think I read all of his books when I was a racing fanatic.  Although  I should say all 'her' books as it is widely thought that his wife wrote them.

The 47 Ronin story (John Allyn) .... The classic novel of samurai loyalty and revenge !

A must read for todays political elite.

I was lucky in that I did not read the first book by dick francis, first.  When i came to read it I could not believe how poor it was compared to the others.  Although they were very variable, especially as he got older and then his wife died and then he was poorly.  I believed that his wife did write them but with obvious input from him.  I think when the first book was  a relative success  then they had help to improve them.  They were not classic literature but I read them to understand racing better, possibly.

I am glad to hear your misgivings about national hunt, Foinavon.  It is so rare to find a genuinely kind man.

I must remember to get some of his books, Foinavon, I would really love to read some good books.

End of Watch - Stephen King

It is okay, like so many of his books, but the plot is lacking - maybe because I am not a huge fan of science fiction or horror.  I prefer thrillers and detective books.

I did wonder whether stephen king has cancer as the 'hero' of the book had terminal cancer and was the same age as him  and now his next book out now is written with his son?

Thanks, Foinavon, I will try Fraser and Welsh.

Sargasso - Edwin Corley a great yarn. Don't let the blurb put you off.
The Jesus Factor - Edwin Corley , a fine read but probably better for the older reader.
Proust - Edmund White , a biography that reads well if you an some idea of the characters found in La Recherché.

Cimarron Rose - James Lee Burke

To the best of my recollection this is the first book I have read by the author and it won't be the last.  Well written and a decent plot.

The Turn of the Screw - Henry James

The first book I have read by him and it will probably be the last as this is supposed to be a 'classic' and one of his best - I don't think so.  As ever I am disappointed by 'classics'.  I can describe this book by quoting Thomas Hardy  who said of Henry James writing ' A ponderously warm manner of saying nothing in infinite sentences'. Another writer who has to write a paragraph when a sentence would do.  They should have read Stephen King's 'On Writing'.

Camino Island - John Grisham

Why he  is among the top selling writers currently I do not know.  His novels are written to a formula and how boring they are.  They are supposed to be 'thrillers' but as in this book he tells you who did it immediately then spins it out. I have given up getting his books from the library and would certainly not pay for one, but I was this book was free so I thought I would give him a go, again

The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

The first I have read by this author and I might try him again, although I think this is supposed to be his best.  I liked it, it is well written and different.  I was amazed when I had read it that some reviewers when it came out in 1984 had slated it, not for the writing but for the content.  They called the content foreign and nasty, unparalleled depravity, a silly sadistic and grisly yarn,disagreeable piece of writing and far worse.  I think they should get out more

Thanks, Foinavon

The Wasp Factory is not brilliant, but because it is unusual I enjoyed it, even though being a woman I don't like grisly stuff, but the content didn't seem that bad to me.  To read the reviews you would think it was the written equivalent of the chain saw massacre.

Thanks, bodil

I do know Iain Banks is dead!  I am glad his SF output is good, as I like him, I think, as  a writer so will try them.

I have seen CJ Box books so often at the library, I will add him to the list.

Pulp: A Novel, Charles Bukowski

This is surreal, I don't know what to make of it. A spoof on detective novels it is interspersed with dry humour in terse one-liners. The chapters are short but you just keep reading, you need to know what's round the corner.
Sadly, this was Bukowski's last work, I could read more of these but not to be. I'll read this one again.

I thought of that, Annie but didn't want to lose some of the references on this thread as it slips into oblivion. Perhaps we have to let go...
I have put the Iain Banks novel on my Amazon wish list so I don't forget to buy it when I'm ready. I'm thinking of buying Celine's "Voyage au bout de la Nuit" as the author is mentioned in "Pulp" and appears to have been an important influence on his writing. Have you read it?
The only other Bukowski novel I've read is "The Post Office", there are a number of others tempting me too. There are never enough hours in the day even when retired.

Celine that is.
If you want a good French book Les Pegriots by Auguste Le Breton is magnificent. A biography of Georges Hainneaux AKA Jo La Terreur.

I haven't heard of Les Pegriots, is it recent?

Sounds good, I'll look for it on Amazon.

I read War of the Worlds at school and thought it was great, a refreshing change to Chaucer where you had to translate every other word.

Don't think I want to read Schindler's List. It's war which is dehumanising, it's the intention of propaganda to achieve that. Sadly, we have seen several repetitions since. We have learned nothing.

The French Revolution

The French Revolution is so complicated, so I read it about it again.  I wish I had read it before I read 'A place of greater Safety' by hilary mantel which is set in the french revolution - good book by the way.

A big coincidence was that in the pictures that accompany the book was the picture by David of Marat dead in his bath after being killed by Charlotte Corday, it made an impression on me.  So today I was reading the telegraph and lo and behold the same picture that i saw last night was there in the paper!