howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#1
i have read a few books by some of these novelists but would probably only name one of them as being among my favourites.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/feb/03/popular-library-books-2011?intcmp=122Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
#2
I read quite a few of these:
Dan Browne (his latest in Washington was a let down)
Lee Child - brilliant, the best of the current batch
Clive Cussler - he has gone off a bit most of his are collaberations now, his older Dirk Pitt stuff was very good
David Baldacci
Sam Bourne
One not on the list who seems not to have broken through in the UK market but who writes brilliant books featuring an anti-terrorist CIA operative is Vince Flynn - real page turners.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#3
this could be an interesting thread barry, seeing all our reading tastes.
i don't always remember titles but i have definitely read 92, 121, 143, 179, 227 and 236.
am presently halfway through 152.
Paul Watkins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 9 Nov 2011
- Posts: 2,226
#4
Agree with Lee Child , Barry.
Latest Tom Clancy 'Locked On' is good. Mix of CIA & clandestine off shoots.
I'll look up Vince Flynn.
A Denial Death by Gerald Seymour.
The Fear Index by Robert Harris. Not as good as his previous Roman groupings.
Try the Russian KGB/Police serial killer triology by Tom Rob Smith. Engrossing.
Watty
Paul Watkins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 9 Nov 2011
- Posts: 2,226
#5
Howard,
I always read your literary offerings. Required reading.
Watty
Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,948
#6
i read a great deal but usualy very easy reading
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
#7
Nothing to crow about really, but I have read none of these: books nor authors. I am not a 'novel' fan. A few I recognise through their works being filmed for big or small screen. I wonder though how the books stack-up against the filmed stories?
I know from reading: The African Queen, The Heart of Darkness and The 39 Steps that the films come out on top. The Heart of Darkness being the hardest pill to swallow as it is a blow by blow rendering of Apocalypse Now, moved from Africa to Vietnam. [or rather the other way around, book first then film]
The Victor Hugo novel, Les Miserables is a stonker of a tale. My mind boggles as to what the stage musical has in common with the book.
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#8
a lot of those names mentioned i have read, enjoyed to varying degrees but not drawn to read any more of their offerings.
there are two special forces chaps that write popular thrillers, macnab and ryan.
both tell good yarns but only one can actually write the other comes up with simplistic one dimensional characters.
tom
i think that "moby dick" by herman melville was a great book that couldn't translate well to film despite a great effort by the cast.
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
#9
I did read that Howard, way after I watched the film. It is one of the earliest efforts to spin a yarn and suffers from being so encyclopaedic that there is no sign of a whale till well into the tale. Full of facts though. I have alluded to it's mention of Sandwich before.
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#10
the story was never about a whale tom, i read it as about someone that could not recover from someone or something getting one over him.
captain ahab took many to their deaths beacuse his ego demanded revenge.
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
#11
That IS the 'tale' Howard, yes. Yet the book itself is chock-a-block with detail and contains many incidents redolent of this type of hunt and harvest. The fixation of Ahab and his quest for the white whale is one thing that has kept it's place in popular 'lore', yet the first lines of the story also have meaning. "Call me Ishmael..."
http://www.bibletutor.com/level1/program/start/people/ishmael.htmIgnorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Guest 659- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 331
#12
Lee Child
Harlan Coben
Peter James
Dan Brown
Tom Bale
Linwood Barclay
Clever thrillers that make you think are my favourites
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#13
i was in the library earlier and got to wondering how well we use it.
there is a "new out" section that i go to first then there is a "just returned" bit, then sections for thrillers, action, sci fi and romance. most people head to them because the library staff have ascertained what are the the most popular examples of each genre.
the thing is that the ones i have mentioned make up a small proportion of the total books there and many of us cannot be bothered to leaf through stuff to find out what is likely to be a good read.
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
#14
I did at one time pick blindly from the fiction shelves in the local library discovering Paul Galico and Flan O'Brian, both names not on any sort of personal wish-list, but well worth the risk.
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#15
there lies the problem tom you can remember their names, back in the summer i picked out a book by an icelandic chap.
technically it was a thriller about a secretive u.s. military base in his country, but stylishly written and carefully fleshed out characters.
the benefit of borrowing from a library is that you can take a chance on picking out something different not like a bookshop where you want to be certain that you wuld like it before shelling out dosh.
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
#16
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,931
#17
Howard, 50p with us would hardly break the bank and you get to keep the book if you really like it.
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#18
point taken jan.
remarkable link tom a country with the population of a london borough providing us with so many fine writers.
probably because it so cold outside most of the year.
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
#19
I had hoped you would find the particular author you were thinking of Howard. This guy probably...
http://marywhipplereviews.com/arnaldur-indridason-operation-napoleon-2-iceland/Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Guest 700- Registered: 11 Jun 2010
- Posts: 2,868
#20
Secondhand books always sell very well for 50p at our Tilmanstone village market.
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