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Currently reading anything by a British writer?
message 151:
by
Werner
(new)
Nov 10, 2013 06:05AM
This weekend, I started on The Screaming Staircase, by Jonathan Stroud, the first novel in his new Lockwood and Co. series. I'm a fan of supernatural fiction, and this one got a rave review from a lady over in the Book Review Exchange group. So, when I was offered a free advance review copy through the local bookstore where I'm an occasional customer, I snapped it up! Stroud's not a novice author, but this is my first exposure to his work.
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Oh, I never thought of Stroud when identifying British authors I've read. My children and I loved The Bartimaeus series (here's my review of The Amulet of Samarkand, the first book). I think the audiobook, narrated by Simon Jones, is wonderful.
LeAnn, for some reason the link to your review doesn't work. :-( Could it have a typo?
Oops ... not any more. Thanks for checking that for me!
The Husband's Secret - wonderful! By Liane Moriarty
I'm taking part in our common read of The Silmarillion this month, so I've just started on it today.
As I've noted before, I think of Stephen Lawhead as a British writer (he's American-born, but long resident in England). Continuing our plan of buddy-reading his Bright Empires series, my friend Jackie and I just started on the fourth installment, The Shadow Lamp.
Right now, I'm reading Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, which is a common read this month in one of my other Goodreads groups. I've seen it performed twice, but this is the first time I've read it.
Once again, I'm reading a book by one of my favorite British writers, Norah Lofts. This time, it's Hester Roon, another of her numerous historical novels. It's the common read for July in the Lofts fan group I belong to here on Goodreads; but I started it early last evening, since I borrowed my copy through interlibrary loan and will have to return it by July 21 (and I know I'll miss several days of reading while we're gone on vacation the week of July 7).
I am reading The Dead of Jericho by Colin Dexter. Falling in love with Inspector Morse all over again!
The Norah Lofts fan group scheduled back-to-back common reads this summer (see message 160); the one for this month is A Wayside Tavern, so I've recently started that one. I gave Hester Roon, the previous one, five stars; I'm hoping to like this one at least as well!
My only current fiction read by a British author is P.G. Wodehouse's The Man With Two Left Feet And Other Stories. Pure comic genius, but for some reason I haven't dipped into it for a while as I'm just reading too many books.
Richard Doddridge Blackmore was a popular and fairly prolific Victorian writer, but his best-known novel today is Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor. The classics group I belong to here on Goodreads picked it (at my suggestion) for their Sept.-Oct. common read; and since I was ready for another book this morning, I went ahead and started it a little early.
Though he's been a long-time resident of the U.S. state of Florida, popular fantasy and SF author Piers Anthony is British born. Barb and I have been fans of his humorous fantasy Xanth series since the early 90s at least, though of the twelve books we've read, several were out of order, and we haven't read one in several years. We're getting back into the series with the 19th installment, Roc and a Hard Place (having previously read the 20th one, Yon Ill Wind).
C. S. Lewis is an author who's been mentioned before on this thread. I'm taking part in a common read of his The Four Loves this month in one of my other groups.
Werner wrote: "C. S. Lewis is an author who's been mentioned before on this thread. I'm taking part in a common read of his The Four Loves this month in one of my other groups."The name C.S. Lewis brings back memories – very faded now, though; I buried myself in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe several times as a small boy.
In between chapters of War and Peace and too many other books, I'm reading two British authors: HG Wells' The Complete Short Stories, and Ian Rankin's Mortal Causes. HG Wells wins the writing contest hands-down, but I'm appreciating the reasonably contemporary (1993) plot of Mortal Causes, and taking in bits and pieces Scottish vocabulary, culture and geography (though perhaps not the most wholesome aspects...).
Roger Clarke, the author of the book I'm reading now (Ghosts: A Natural History: 500 Years of Searching for Proof) is a British author, born and raised on the Isle of Wight. This book is one that I won in a recent Goodreads giveaway.
Like Piers Anthony (message 165), Roman Catholic author of speculative fiction Dr. Andrew M. Seddon lives and writes in the U.S. (Montana and Florida); but he was born in England --in his case, Leicester-- immigrating as a youth with his parents. His fiction is sometimes set in the British Isles, like Imperial Legions and Saints Alive! New Stories of Old Saints: Volume II Celtic Paths; and the protagonist of the story collection I'm currently reading, Ring of Time, is a Brit --albeit it one from the 27th century!
Norah Lofts is a British author I've mentioned several times on this thread, since she's a favorite of mine. A little over four years ago, I read and really liked her supernatural fiction novel, Gad's Hall, one of three that she wrote in the genre (my review is here: www.goodreads.com/review/show/129382711 .) Today, I've finally gotten around to starting on the sequel, The Haunting of Gad's Hall.
My wife liked her and I read a few of her novels when she was going through them.
I got introduced to her back in the 60s, through the House trilogy (which, obviously, I liked). She was quite a prolific author, so although I've read several of her novels (and one of her nonfiction books), there are still a much larger number of them that I haven't.
Yeah, the "House books" as my wife called them were some of the ones I read.
As a new moderator, I thought I'd post my latest British read. I did have to think for a minute or so, as nothing came to mind right away. But since I usually have at least half a dozen books going at once, I reasoned one of them must be British! And sure enough, here it is: Karl Marx, a biography by Isaiah Berlin, born in Russia, but a British citizen most of his life.So far, it is very lucid and readable, appropriately focusing more on Marx's thought than the events of his life. They obviously intermingle, but after he moved to London the salient events of his life were almost exclusively reading, thinking and writing.
I'm taking part in our group's common read of Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham this month. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I had to start late; but it's a short book, and I expect to finish well before July 31!
While I wait for an interlibrary loan book to come in the mail, so I can start a buddy read with a Goodreads friend, I'm passing time by reading in Men O'War: Stories from the Glory Days of Sail. The stories in this anthology mostly focus on the British navy, so the majority of the authors represented are British, as is the editor, Mike Ashley.
As I've noted before, I consider long-time UK resident Stephen Lawhead a British writer (though he's American born). One of my Gioodreads friends and I recently started a buddy read of the concluding volume of his Bright Empires series, The Fatal Tree. (We'd previously read all of the earlier books in the series together, as well.)
Werner wrote: "I'm taking part in our group's common read of Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham this month. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I had to start late; but it's a short book, and..."Have been on a Maugham kick myself. Just read The Explorer and now reading The Magician.
This month, the Supernatural Fiction Readers group is doing a common read of Haunted, by the late British writer James Herbert (1943-2013), so I'm taking part in that. Before this book won the group's poll for selecting what we'd read, Herbert was a writer I'd heard of only vaguely, and who was not on my radar as someone I especially wanted to read. But now that I'm reading this novel, I'm enjoying it very well so far!
Historical novelist Norah Lofts (whom I've mentioned before on this thread) is one of my favorite authors, and my membership in the NL fan group here on Goodreads often gives me occasion to read her work. In February, the group is doing a common read of her novel about Queen Isabella of Spain, Crown of Aloes; and since the discussion thread was already up and I was ready for a new read, I started it a little early.
Werner wrote: "Historical novelist Norah Lofts (whom I've mentioned before on this thread) is one of my favorite authors, and my membership in the NL fan group here on Goodreads often gives me occasion to read he..."Thanks for spreading the word Werner!
I am currently reading Great Morning, the third volume of Osbert Sitwell's autobiography.
Rosemarie, Oh, thank you for the book recommendations. My family traded houses with a family in England for a month, and I was able to read The Mayor of Casterbridge when I was right there, in Dorset. We took a day off sightseeing and just sat around, reading.I see my formatting error. You have to use a forward slash in the second part.
You're welcome, Barbara; glad to help out! :-) (I'm enjoying the book a lot more than I initially expected to --I usually don't enjoy historical fiction about real people as much as I do when the protagonists are imaginary persons, but this is proving to be an exception.)Rosemarie, was Osbert Sitwell any relation to Dame Edith Sitwell?
Werner, I am really mixed up now. I thought I was answering Rosemarie, but I cannot find her post here. Are there several threads?
Yes, Carol, this group has quite a few discussion threads (check out our homepage). The thread where Rosemarie shared the book recommendations is this one: www.goodreads.com/topic/show/344529-i... .
Yes, he was her older brother. They also had a younger brother, Sacheverell Sitwell. Their parents were not very good parents, but the three siblings supported each other in their dealings with the parents. Edith had a particularly hard time because she was a girl.
Hi, Carol. We studied The Mayor of Castorbridge in high school. I reread it not that long ago, and really enjoyed it this time.Have any of you read anything by Elizabeth von Arnim? She wrote Elizabeth and her German Garden. She was British but was married to a German aristocrat. Her book The Enchanted April was made into a charming film in the 80s or 90s.
Rosemarie, the Bluefield College library (where I work) has a copy of The Enchanted April, but I haven't read it myself.
Werner, the novel is about four British women who spend April in a villa in Italy away from their husbands.I read some of your conversations from a few years ago about C.S. Lewis. One of my favourite books is Surprised by Joy.
Rosemarie wrote: "Werner, the novel is about four British women who spend April in a villa in Italy away from their husbands.I read some of your conversations from a few years ago about C.S. Lewis. One of my favour..."
I'd gathered that this morning, Rosemarie, from reading my Goodreads friend Cecily's review (although I didn't know it before!).
Although I've read a number of Lewis' writings, I've actually never read Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life, though, again, the BC library has a copy. I should read it sometime; I know it would be well worth reading!
Excellent book with some insights into Lewis that were new to me.
I really like CS Lewis. I need to re-read him again.
Carol wrote: "I really like CS Lewis. I need to re-read him again."I've liked everything I've read by him, especially The Chronicles of Narnia and the books of the Space Trilogy. His nonfiction is great, too!
I agree about your C.S. Lewis favourites, Werner. I didn't read the Narnia books until I was in my twenties. What a treat. It's just about time that I read them for the third time.
Yes, I read the Chronicles of Narnia out loud to my children about three times. My daughter became such a fan that when she grew up, she named her dog Digory!! I had no idea Lewis had written all these other wonderful books and was a such a fascinating person. The movie about Joy was just fascinating, and so I read other books of his.
Carol, do you mean the movie Shadowlands, starring Anthony Hopkins and Deborah Winger? I love that movie! (We have it at the BC library, so I was able to watch it for free.)
Oh, yes, I forgot the name of it: Shadowlands>. I should watch that movie again. There are some films that deserve more than one viewing.
Whoops, did the italics wrong again. Shadowlands > Cannot believe it is so complicated, but the teacher part of me needs to italicize.
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