]]>
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]>
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]>
"S'he has hair between her legs like me but she does not have a penis or scrotum sac.'"
]]>
]]>
Hi Fiona - thanks so much for joining my group...it's great to connect with someone who can appreciate a brilliant author when (and if - alas!) they read one! lol
Unfortunately I cannot answer your question since I'm in the same boat as you...I've got the whole Egyptian series - read everything BUT the last one. However, I have to wait because Jacob Hertlein (my husband) has claimed 'first rights' to reading it and I'll have to wait until he is finished! Do me a favor , and bug him to add a review when he is finished (he can be a bit lazy about such things! I haven't even been able to get him to join my group yet - how's that? How demoralizing! I love him heaps though and I must add that it was I who introduced him to Wilbur through Monsoon and he's loved him ever since:)!
Whatever happens, I'll read it in the next month and post a review - for sure!!!
About "not being able to get" into different books of his....I was the same at first. I started out with Monsoon (that's the second of the 'first' Courtney's series according to the listings at the front of his books) and when I had finished the prequel Birds Of Prey I borrowed The Burning Shore from my local library, and frankly, it seemed alien to me. Thank goodness I persisted. Please, please persist past the first few chapters if you are having difficulty 'shifting' from his other Courtney world. I had the same problem (again) with his "Egyptian" series - at first. It's like we start out with expectations based on our previous experiences, and it takes a while to adjust. But it's so, so worth it.
Centaine de Thury/Courtney (from his second Courtenys of Africa series) is my favorite female character (he has such strong women in his novels - I LOVE his perception and understanding of women)but the shift from 18th Century Monsoon was an effort at first.
Give it a go and let him carry you away - I guarantee he will!
Wilbur Smith really proves that you cannot pidgeonhole a writer as to time and place - he is a challenge and a delight! ]]>
]]>
He is certainly mainstream - but don't let that fool you: He is one of the best storytellers to have ever graced the earth! Although there are a few of his books that I don't rate as highly as most of the others, ALL of them have something to offer, and as well as being exceptionally entertaining, I always feel that I come away learning something.
I've started a new group called Fans of Wilbur Smith - everyone who has commented on this post, you are all most welcome to join! ]]>