English Mysteries Club discussion
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Currently Reading?
I usually have two books going on at the same time - one paper and one audio. The audio is for exercising and driving and is generally a light book. Something that if I miss a bit because of traffic, well, it doesn't matter. I just love to listen to the PBS Selected Shorts read by actors. A good reader is a joy to hear. http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcas...
If it's a really good book, I just read the one - Todd, Robinson, Crombie, Ison, some others like that. If I'm trying to finish it but having a hard time with it - like several of the Georges - I may be reading two or three more at the same time. If so, one will probably be nonfiction - science, math, or the occasional biography - and the others mysteries. I don't read romance, suspense, horror (because who can top Dracula or Rim of the Pit?), thrillers, etc. because what's the point? I bore easily.
I like your comment on George's books. When am I am going to realize that slogging through her books lately is a waste of my precious time?
I know, Susan; some of the early ones were good. I keep hoping she'll get back into the groove. There are authors / series that I just buy without thinking about it because I know I'll like them; she was once in that group but now I just check them out. If the next one isn't markedly better - I'm hoping that getting rid of Haddiyah and her father will help - I'll probably even stop checking them out.
Wendy wrote: "To all those people doing the Reading Challenge... do you have several books on the go or always read in a linear, fashion, so to speak?"Like others I am usually listening to an audiobook as well as reading a physical book. I'm currently trying to broaden my reading interests so am reading more non-fiction, but find that I can't concentrate on that enough to take it in last thing at night so I try and make time during the day, and read a novel at bedtime. So I've usually got 3 books on the go now. I don't think I could cope with any more.
The non-fiction book I'm reading at the moment is going to take me months to read as I like to use Google and Wikipedia to check on people and events as I go along - and then I usually have to read back a few paragraphs when I start reading to remind myself where I am!
This is all fascinating stuff, guys, thanks! Like Sarah, I like to have a novel for bedtime and a non-fiction to dip in and out of during the day, though some non-fiction, if it's well written, is just as easy to read as a novel. One I got from the library and started to read but now have my own copy (Christmas present!) is Millions Like Us by Virginia Nicholson
is in that category so I might yet find it on the bedside table too!
Mod
The trouble is you can forget what you have on the go if they're all in different places! This year I'm trying to streamline a bit, and only have one book in each format on the go at any one time.
several have mentioned audio books - it has occurred that were I to do this, I might knit as well as listen, accomplishing two things at once ;>0 ... where does one go for audio books?
Helen wrote: "several have mentioned audio books - it has occurred that were I to do this, I might knit as well as listen, accomplishing two things at once ;>0 ... where does one go for audio books?"I have taken up knitting again since I started listening to audiobooks - it is a good combination :)
I get some audiobooks from my library (either as CDs or digital downloads); for classics, I often try the free public domain recordings from Librivox. Otherwise, I mostly use Audible.
Leslie wrote: "I get some audiobooks from my library (either as CDs or digital downloads); for classics, I often try the free public domain recordings from Librivox. Otherwise, I mostly use Audible"Hi Leslie - I have just downloaded a favourite from Librivox as a test .... thank you for the information
Leslie wrote: "I get some audiobooks from my library (either as CDs or digital downloads); for classics, I often try the free public domain recordings from Librivox. Otherwise, I mostly use Audible. "I was buying from itunes until I discovered that audiobooks can be downloaded through the public library websites - what a wonderful discovery! I have also used Audible and also KayRay Reads to You. I love KayRay - she has a very friendly easygoing style.
My #1 2014 resolution is to stop finishing boring books out of a misplaced sense of loyalty. There are too many riveting ones to waste the time! #2 resolution = find more good indie authors. I try to read nonfiction after dinner & fiction (usually a mystery) in bed at night. On trips I read magazines, so I can leave them for the next bored traveler.
Carol wrote: "My #1 2014 resolution is to stop finishing boring books out of a misplaced sense of loyalty. There are too many riveting ones to waste the time! #2 resolution = find more good indie authors. I tr..."
I agree, Carol. Life's too short to waste it on books you're not enjoying. And there's so many more books to read!
And thanks, Sarah, for the tip on downloading audiobooks from public libraries. What a service! I've just put the necessary app on my ipad. I must pass the message on to friends.
I've borrowed another copy of Elizabeth George's Just one evil act from the library and resumed reading. Looks like a long, hard slog through almost 400 more pages. :=(
Joan wrote: "I've borrowed another copy of Elizabeth George's Just one evil act from the library and resumed reading. Looks like a long, hard slog through almost 400 more pages. :=("I admire your perserverence!
Joan, I would really like to know why we do this. I slogged through it too. When do you give up on a favorite author? This is a big question to me. I used to love Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series and finally realized they were the same book over and over. Done. I have this problem that I keep expecting something good from authors I like.
@Susan: I, too, gave up on Evanovich a while ago. I gave up on Martha Grimes as well. Why do we do this? We want to give our favorite authors the benefit of the doubt! But only up to a point. I'll probably give up on Elizabeth George if this one does not improve significantly over the course of the next 400 pages.
I will not be buying the new George book before I read some reviews. If Lynley has yet another new affair (2 in the year since his wife an unborn child were murdered on his doorstep) I am done.
I still can't give up on a book once started - apart from Lord of the Rings which I have tried three times. And I stopped reading Elizabeth George after Careless in Red. She should have kept giving us more development of the small group of friends she established at the start, and kept the books to a reasonable length. Sad, since some of the early ones were really good.
Interesting. I wouldn't mind at all that Lynley's having affairs if the women he was having them with made a shred of sense for him; the two he's been with so far are one-dimensional, boring characters that I don't for one second believe the Lynley I know would be attracted to. But Lynley's sex life is a minor part of what's wrong with these books. George just isn't coming up with good, new mysteries, and she's unveiling what she does come up with at an agonizingly slow pace. 700 pages ?!?!?!? Really? What ever happened to editing?
I guess that's what I meant his affairs. They were just so unlikely. I really can't picture Lynley sleeping with his boss and this vet makes no sense. I would love to see Lynley and Havers solving some real crimes without them being the center of it and at a lot less than 700 pages. Are editors intimidated now a days? Amy Tan needed a good editor on her new one too-800 pages. Please. If you sell enough copies do editors quit working on your stuff?
It is the mammoth size of some of the contemporary mysteries that I don't like. I am willing to read long books, but not every book needs to be (or should be) long. What happened to those 180-250 page mysteries? In so few pages, the author didn't have time to bore me with irrelevancies!
I couldn't agree more. That's one of the reasons I like the Alan Bradley books. Dexter, Christie, etc. never felt the need to bore us to tears.
Yes, I agree re Bradley et al. Lots of non-English writers keep to a good length - Donna Leon's Brunetti books, and Andrea Camilleri's Montalbano are fine.
Mod
"this back-story proved to be more interesting than the main storyline... For the first half of the novel at least I found myself viewing the others as rather tiresome minor characters, and the plot to be rather prosaic.
However the second half was vastly superior. The plot thickened, the characters began to take on more differentiation, and the book eventually turned into an intriguing whodunnit.
I still found myself more interested in the back story though, and I'm not sure this is altogether a good thing in a mystery series."
From what you have all said about her recent work, I am now wondering if this author has a yen to write "sagas" rather than detective mysteries, and is trying to slip them in by the back door!
Really very percipient. Saga-itis I shall call this disease. Has anyone read any Ken Follett medieval blockbusters. I believe there are crimes involved. Are they sagas or mysteries or something else, and are they worth reading?
I agree with all of you about the length of so many books. I gave up on George a long time ago. I used to really enjoy Jonathan Kellerman until he started padding his books with pages of unnecessary descriptions. I'm going to try to find some of the authors recommend by Good Reads members.
John wrote: "Really very percipient. Saga-itis I shall call this disease. Has anyone read any Ken Follett medieval blockbusters. I believe there are crimes involved. Are they sagas or mysteries or something e..."
I have read some of Follett's thrillers, and some of his historical fiction. The historical fiction are definitely sagas! The thrillers are worth reading, IMO. I especially liked Whiteout...
edit: I didn't mean to imply that the historical fiction wasn't worth reading, by the way. Just focused on the thrillers as this is a mystery group...
I think a mystery that goes on and on ceases to be a mystery and becomes a piece of fog, instead.
I'm currently reading the seventh in the Hill/Lloyd series by Jill McGown, "A Shred of Evidence" (which was filmed for BBC TV).The series is very entertaining and the mystery/police procedural plot always first-rate. McGown also has a way of making sure the "personal side" of the series is well thought out and unobtrusive, the way I like my book pairings. Because it's a continuing saga, as it were, it's best to start from the beginning with Hill and Lloyd, which would be "A Perfect Match."
Unfortunately the author left us much too soon, dying of cancer at age 59.
Just started the first Carola Dunn book in the Daisy Dalrymple series Death at Wentwater Court which I'm really enjoying.I haven't tried many of these type of detective mysteries - written now but set in an earlier time. I thought they might be a bit twee, and also not particularly historically and socially accurate, but I tried the James Anderson Burford Family mysteries which I thought were great so I thought I'd try another series.
The Daisy Dalrymple book is full of little details like the type of luggage that was used, and accessories worn - which set it firmly in the 1920s. I've checked on some of the detail she gives and it does seem accurate. And I'm finding that I actually enjoy thinking 'ooh, would they have said that?' and then doing some research to try and find out.
What's the general feeling here about this type of book?
My wife and I have been hooked on this series and have them all, with the next one pre-ordered. But in a way they are not particularly well- written, but are strangely compelling - I can't quite say why, although the period detail you mention, and the range of stories (including a museum, a boat club, for instance) do keep them fresh. The recurring characters provide a comforting thread through the series, too.Written for an American audience, I think, and many published in the USA before interest grew in the UK, so there was a flood of them published quickly. Have stopped feeling ashamed for enjoying them.
I would put her on a par with the Phynee Fisher Australian series of Kerry Greenwood, based also in the 1920s.
I have read the Daisy Dalrymple books since the first book was published years ago. I love them. Her most recent book, "Heirs of the Body" is sitting beside me as I write this. The big difference between Daisy and and Phryne is there is very little, if any, explicit sex in Carola Dunne's books. I love the Greenwood series, but that girl gets around!!
Susan wrote: "Are editors intimidated now a days? Amy Tan needed a good editor on her new one too-800 pages. Please. If you sell enough copies do editors quit working on your stuff? ..."(1) Yes, successful writers often can (if they wish) tell an editor Hands Off, (2) if there is an editor, which is often discarded as an expensive frill in these days when publishing companies are run by marketing experts instead of book experts.
George Bernard Shaw had a famous quip along the lines of "Sorry this is so long--I didn't have time to write shorter," which points to how valuable that final revision is for an author.
I often think that's why first books by authors are often their best. They have to revise and polish so many times that by the time it's published it's really good.
Helen wrote: "I'm currently reading the seventh in the Hill/Lloyd series by Jill McGown, "A Shred of Evidence" (which was filmed for BBC TV).The series is very entertaining and the mystery/police procedural pl..."
Helen,
I really enjoyed that series, once upon a time...another one to eventually reread...
A bit like Deborah Crombie's work.
Sarah wrote: "Just started the first Carola Dunn book in the Daisy Dalrymple series Death at Wentwater Court which I'm really enjoying.I haven't tried many of these type of detect..."
I like the Dalrymple books, but don't think I could read too many in a row. To me, there's something a bit saccharine about those set in that era, particularly with a female heroine. Took me a while to get into the Maisie Dobbs series.
One that particularly set my teeth on edge was Simon Brett's Blotto/Twinks book--don't think I even made it a third of the way through.
Miss M wrote: "To me, there's something a bit saccharine about those set in that era, particularly with a female heroine. Took me a while to get into the Maisie Dobbs series."I have the same problem, & couldn't get into Maisie Dobbs, either. But in her case it was partly the Svengali thing with her invisible all-knowing mentor.
Mod
Apparently with his latest book he's gone back to writing another "Charles Paris" novel! Reports are that it doesn't match the standard of the earlier ones though. And why on earth has he written only 6 "Mrs Pargeter" novels?!
I like Simon Brett but hadn't come across the Blotto and Twinks series. Just read a plot summary of the first one and it does come across as a comedy parody.One of the big draws of Daisy Dalrymple for me was the fact that there are so many of them - I love the comfort of familiar characters, as long as it doesn't end up being the same book each time in a different setting.
Sarah wrote: "Just started the first Carola Dunn book in the Daisy Dalrymple series Death at Wentwater Court which I'm really enjoying.I haven't tried many of these type of detect...
What's the general feeling here about this type of book?"
I haven't read the Dalrymple books, but I am a fan of historical fiction mysteries when well done. Are you particularly interested in the 1920s? There are quite a few good series if you are open to other times and places.
for shorter mysteries I like Kate Ellis (Wesley Petersen series) Edward Marston - he has several series one based on Victorian railways and one in Tudor times, Elizabeth Peters (Amelia Peabody series) Martin Edwards - Lake District series, Rebecca Tope - Cotswold series, Barbara Cleverly - Sandilands series, those are just off the top of my head!
Trouble is I love a good, big, keep -you -going mystery but I too have found some established authors going long winded and less gripping. For historical murders my favourite has to be C J Sansom with Shardlake. Modern day - Louise Penny is going strong!
Carol wrote: "Miss M wrote: "To me, there's something a bit saccharine about those set in that era, particularly with a female heroine. Took me a while to get into the Maisie Dobbs series."I have the same pro..."
Carol,
I did eventually start to enjoy the Dobbs books more, but I know what you mean about the mentor. Then she had the never-resolving love relationship...
Jean wrote: "Miss M - Yes, I know what you mean about the "Blotto and Twinks" series. Simon Brett is light, of course, that's part of his charm. But this was all so inconsequential it was in danger of disappear..."Jean,
Somehow, the recent Charles Paris book is the only one I've read in that series--very different from the Twinks stuff, I need to catch up with the earlier (Paris) titles.
Jean wrote: "Oh yes, do! Some are really very good. I particularly liked So Much Blood :)"Ah, twist my arm...I got it. :)
I recently read Robert Barnard's
Death And The Chaste Apprentice
also set 'backstage'...thought it was pretty good.
Mod
Leslie wrote: "Are you particularly interested in the 1920s? There are quite a few good series if you are open to other times and places. "I am particularly interested in the 1920s at the moment, but I also love anything from the turn of the twentieth century up to the end of the 1950s.
I'd love to hear about any other series you've enjoyed from this period.
English Mysteries Club
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I generally stick to one fiction and one non-fiction, with, like Leslie, some poetry or short stories thrown in once in a while. I don't think I could keep six fictions straight in my head at the same time!