Currently reading anything by a British writer? Showing 251-300 of 1,160

[Rosemarie]

I have finished the Austen and the Fforde book. The book I am reading The Gatekeeper: A Memoir by Terry Eagleton is wonderfully funny.

[Carol]

What did you like best about it?

[Rosemarie]

So far I am only partway throught the Eagleton book. He is/was? a professor of literature at Oxford who is of Irish-Catholic background. The first chapter tells about his experiences as a ten year old boy acting as gatekeeper for a Carmelite convent in the 50's. His comments about the 60's and hippies are priceless.
I have not finished Villette yet, but I have read it before. While reading the Jasper Fforde book I made a list of all the works listed. It is a long list, but I have read many of them. The main authors mentioned are Dickens, Shakespeare and of course, Charlotte Bronte.

[Carol]

OOOh, it sounds very interesting. I have put it on my list. I made a promise to myself to finish one book before starting the next. Right now I am re-reading Kim by Rudyard Kipling. Also, in April, I will do the group read.

[Rosemarie]

I am doing the group read too. What is Kim about?

[Carol]

I copied this from the Goodreads website, because I feel my own words cannot do this great book justice:
"Two men - a boy who grows into early manhood and an old ascetic priest, the lama - are at the center of the novel. A quest faces them both. Born in India, Kim is nevertheless white, a sahib. While he wants to play the Great Game of Imperialism, he is also spiritually bound to the lama. His aim, as he moves chameleon-like through the two cultures, is to reconcile these opposing strands, while the lama searches for redemption from the Wheel of Life.

A celebration of their friendship in a beautiful but often hostile environment, 'Kim' captures the opulence of India's exotic landscape, overlaid by the uneasy presence of the British Raj."

[Rosemarie]

Thanks.

[Carol]

Actually, that synopsis does not do it justice. The reason I love this book so much is that the superb use of the English language makes me experience India, a country I am not likely to ever see. More than that--- the obvious love that Kipling had for this land comes across so vividly. He himself was torn between two worlds, the world of the Anglo and the world of the Indian. In this book he captures the problem of identity in a unique way. And the spiritual aspect of all of it is just fascinating. In addition, it is about spies!!! It is amazing how all these topics are woven together. It is not easy to read though, a person really has to use a book with annotations that explain some of the references.

[Rosemarie]

Have you read The Far Pavillions by M.M. Kaye? I read it when I was much younger but I remember it well. It is about India as well, with a very romantic and exciting hero. I have read all her books, including her mysteries which all begin with Death in...Death in Kashmir is one of my favourites.

[Carol]

Thank you for the recommendations. I am amassing a great reading list from joining this group!!

[Rosemarie]

I am reading To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. I read it many years ago and don't remember anything about it. I am rereading it with another group. I have read three of her books, Orlando,Mrs. Dalloway, and The Common Reader. I am not enjoying To the Lighthouse but I will finish it. I just hope it gets better.

[Werner]

I'm taking part in our group's common read this month of Robert Louis Stevenson's The Black Arrow.

[Barbara]

Carol wrote: "Thank you for the recommendations. I am amassing a great reading list from joining this group!!"

Rosemarie wrote: "Have you read The Far Pavillions by M.M. Kaye? I read it when I was much younger but I remember it well. It is about India as well, with a very romantic and excitin..."

Have either of you read Ruth Prawer Jhabvala? If you like the juxtaposition of India and Europe she is the mistress of it . She is ( I think ) Polish born, English educated , but married to an Indian and has lived there forever.
Wonderful writer , observant and erudite but very funny too .

[Rosemarie]

I have heard of her but I have never read any of her books. Which would you recommend as a good book to begin with?

[Carol]

She won a prize for Heat and Dust. So maybe start there. I will look for it too.

[Sametkoseoglu]

struggling with Woolf's To the Lighthouse

[Werner]

I've never read any of Woolf's novels myself (though I've read one of her short stories, back when Barb and I were homeschooling our girls, and I was teaching British literature). Samet, you have my sympathy with your struggles, but I can't help much. :-( (But I know we have some Woolf fans in the group, who possibly can.)

[Melanie]

I recommend the Guy Winter Mystery series by James Philip. I'm currently reading: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Winters-War-W....

It's keeping me hooked with tension interjected with some wry humour.

[Rosemarie]

I am reading two Dickens novels, Martin Chuzzlewit and Edwin Drood. I have just finished reading a novel written in 1769 called The History of Emily Montague by Frances Brooke. It is set in Canada and England. As a Canadian I have to say that I liked the Canadian parts the best.

[Sarah]

I just finished Bridget Jones' Diary and have started Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons. I discovered this book by watching the movie. It was really funny and while the book has a bit more dry humor is still quite funny.

[Rosemarie]

Cold Comfort Farm is a fun book. I enjoyed both the book and the movie.
Has anyone read I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith? There is a movie adaptation as well.

[Rachel]

Currently finished Time and Time again by Ben Elton. It hit my top 20 of good reads. The author combined historical accurate events with time travel and left you with..what if.

[[deleted user]]

I read "To the Lighthouse" some years ago too, but I can't remember it now. I guess it didn't impress me very much.

From Woolf, I would recommend Mrs. Dalloway and A Room of One's Own. They are great. The first one is a fantastic work of what is called: the stream of consciousness, whereas the second one displays a strong criticism of the place of women writers and women in general in society.

[Anna]

Just finished "Miss Buncle's Book" by D.E. Stephenson. I was looking for something light, easy, and fun to take the edge off a busy work week and this was just the ticket. Delightful characters with a touch of satire (but completely without pretension).

[Rosemarie]

Anna, the D.E. Stevenson books are nice light reading. The characters are sympathetic and I enjoy the Scottish locations.

[Anna]

Rosemarie wrote: "Anna, the D.E. Stevenson books are nice light reading. The characters are sympathetic and I enjoy the Scottish locations."

You're absolutely right! I think I need to try another one to get through the rainy weekend in store for me. :)

[Adrian]

I am currently beta reading (test reading) the sequel to ex-pat British author S Mc Pherson's "At The Waters" edge. It is a young adult fantasy romance story that is unmistakably influenced by the Harry Potter stories. I like these books for the superb flowing writing and the clever use of first person present tense for the main character and third person present tense when in the point of view of other characters. Most of all I prize her work for using good story structure techniques that keeps a fast paced dramatic plot moving. My review of "At The Water's Edge" is on Goodreads and S McPherson is quite active here too.

[Shreeka]

i am currently reading james patterson's novel. i love them.. completely mystery nd all

[Louise]

I just finished reading J. B. Chisholm's debut novel Vasa and Ypres: A Mayfair Conundrum. It is brilliantly funny. I recommend it for any fan of P. G. Wodehouse type humour.

[Caz C]

I just finished both Death and Deception by B.A. Steadman (absolutely loved it) and Angel by Anita Waller (briliantly written). Both of them are female British authors. Where Death and Deception is the first of a series starring DI Dan Hellier and a pleasant read detective and crime novel. Angel is a gripping psychological thriller and although excellently written, not my topic as it concerns the rape of a young girl.

[Werner]

Actually, Shreka, James Patterson is an American writer. He was born and raised in New York state (in Newburgh, to be exact).

This month, I'm taking part in a common read (in another group) of Peter O'Donnell's series-opening novel, Modesty Blaise (1965). Being a staunch fan of action heroines, it's a wonder I waited so long to read this one; but I'm glad to finally be remedying that lapse!

[Rosemarie]

Wasn't there a movie of that name? (Modesty Blaise)

[Werner]

Yes, Rosemarie, there was; it was made back in the 1960s. But it doesn't really follow the book (nor any of the books of O'Donnell's series). The movie-makers re-made the title character into a distaff imitation of the movie version of James Bond, because they thought that would sell movie tickets. :-( O'Donnell's Modesty is a tough-as-nails lady who can handle violent physical action when she has to; but she isn't a professional spy and has a very different (and more winsome, IMO!) personality than the various cinematic versions of Bond. And O'Donnell didn't go in for the kind of outlandish and unrealistic gadgetry we see in the Bond films.

[Melanie]

I recently finished reading Winter's War and am now on Winter's Revenge (Book 2) by James Philip - espionage/historical thriller series. I don't normally have time to read many long books but I'm hooked on these!

[Alicia]

Currently reading Busman's Honeymoon (Dorothy L. Sayers). For the umpteenth time.

[Werner]

I've read (and liked) a couple of Sayers' short stories, but never read any more of her work. That's definitely a situation I need to remedy. (Sigh!) "So many books, so little time!"

[Rosemarie]

Werner, Sayer also wrote some ecellent non-fiction and essays.
Many of them have Christian themes and discuss the relevance of faith in the modern world.

[Alicia]

Werner wrote: "I've read (and liked) a couple of Sayers' short stories, but never read any more of her work. That's definitely a situation I need to remedy. (Sigh!) "So many books, so little time!""

The detecting is dated, unfortunately - a lot of years have gone by since they were written.

But the romance that begins in Strong Poison and concludes in Busman's Honeymoon is based on Sayers' education; and she turned a stodgy older detective, believably, into one of the most romantic men in anything I have ever read.

I started with the regular Lord Peter Wimsey detective novels such as Whose Body and The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, and followed the transformation of a man, an intelligent man (for all his fussy mannerisms). I'm not sure it can be appreciated without reading most of the books, but it prompted me to write, in my own book description,

A contemporary mainstream love story, in the epic tradition of Jane Eyre, and Dorothy L. Sayers’ four-novel bond between Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane, Pride’s Children starts with a very public chance encounter, and will eventually stretch over three separate continents.

It is hard to explain - you either get it or you don't - and I'm sure it limits my appeal, but it is the book I always wanted to read, and Sayers' creations are a deeply embedded part of that. And my readers get it, long may their tribe multiply.

[Rosemarie]

One of my favourite Harriet Vane novels is Gaudy Night, which I read not that long ago.

[Alicia]

Rosemarie wrote: "One of my favourite Harriet Vane novels is Gaudy Night, which I read not that long ago."

Then you know what I mean by the ending - and in Latin!

When you have been influenced by the best, it's hard not to want that for your own writing.

[Rose]

Right now, I'm re-reading "Loitering with Intent" by Muriel Spark.

How do British women do it? Their irony is great but there's all that other stuff. The way they can dance and twist around a sentence is amazing.

(Just before this one, I re-read 3 of Nancy Mitford's novels.)

I read somewhere that Virginia Woolf, according to the critic, was too lady-like and just avoided the issues when they were distasteful or something like that. But that's my favorite part! I don't think she avoided anything. A talent for presenting un-lady-like subjects in lady-like terms is a great asset. You can get away with a lot.

[Melanie]

Does anyone like Bernard Cornwell's books? I've been reading his "Rebel" on and off and am enjoying the humour against the backdrop of the American Civil War.

[Werner]

I've never read any of Cornwell's work myself, but my son-in-law is a big fan of his.

[Carol]

This afternoon I started The Infidel Stain by M.J. Carter.

[Werner]

Rosemarie wrote: "Wasn't there a movie of that name? (Modesty Blaise)"

Rosemarie, when I checked out the imdb description of the Modesty Blaise movie (www.imdb.com/title/tt0060708 ) just now, I learned a lot more about the relationship of movie and book(s).

Modesty started her literary existence, in the early 60s, as a comic strip character --but, like Flash Gordon or the Phantom, in an action-adventure series that wasn't comedic as such, and wasn't aimed at little kids. 20th Century-Fox got the idea of making it into a movie, and originally hired her creator, Peter O'Donnell, to do the screenplay. He wrote a serious one, with a seriously developed character. The producers, however, decided they wanted to do a tongue-in-cheek parody of the Bond movies instead; so they hired one Evan Jones to re-write the screenplay, and in the end he used only one sentence of O'Donnell's version. However, they commissioned O'Donnell to do the novelization. He did --but he used HIS screenplay as the basis, not Jones,' nor the film itself. That book, published in 1965 (a year before the movie actually hit the screens) became the Modesty Blaise we know, and that I'm reading. It sparked the whole series of sequels, and turned O"Donnell into a novelist rather than a cartoonist.

[Werner]

Rosemarie wrote: "Werner, Sayer also wrote some ecellent non-fiction and essays.
Many of them have Christian themes and discuss the relevance of faith in the modern world."

Rosemarie, I knew that Sayers was a Christian, and that she wrote at least one play dramatizing events in the life of Christ. Just now, I checked the Goodreads list of her writings, and saw several of them that are essay collections of the type you mentioned. Thanks for the tip! I'll have to check out that side of her writing sometime, too; and some of the collections look like they'd be excellent acquisitions for the Bluefield College library!

[Carol]

Rosemarie wrote: "One of my favourite Harriet Vane novels is Gaudy Night, which I read not that long ago."

Oh, Gaudy Night is one of my all time favorites. I have read it three times over the years. I picked up Dorothy Sayers when I was younger, and it did not appeal to me. Then I picked her up again much later, being influenced by watching the Peter Wimsey series, and wow, I have read all of her books, but not the non fiction. This is a great discussion about her. What about The Nine Tailors? That mystery was utterly unique and got me interested in bellringers, something I living in America, had never heard of.

[Rosemarie]

I read them a long time ago and enjoyed all of them, especially the earlier books.
I have always enjoyed the "classic" British mystery writers because of the atmosphere they create. I visualize myself riding on the Orient Express, being driven in one of those wonderful cars, preferably a Bugatti. And, of course, wearing those wonderful clothes.

[Carol]

Yes, I got on a kick of reading most of the female British mystery writers. I like the innocence of the stories, compared to the brutal, graphic ones of today. Josephine Tey was just excellent in her book Dune Oh, I just remembered Edmund Crispin. Did you ever read any of his mysteries? Quite good, too.

[Carol]

Oh, I figured out how we can see which Carol is talking by the little logo thing. But mine does not have my flower. I find this Goodreads website confusing to maneuver. My flower logo is there on March 21, but not on these last ones. I think they call the logo a "gravatar"