What are you reading just now?

[numberplease]

Ooh, how long is that offer at Waterstones for? I can`t get there before Saturday. I`m well stocked up with reading matter to bring with me to Muasdale at the weekend. I`ve just finished The Leopard, by Jo Nesbo, brilliant! I`m really getting quite a taste for the Scandinavian authors, trying out another one now, Hakan Nesser, Swedish, the book`s called Borkmann`s Point, not bad so far. Haven`t read that one by Tess Gerritsen Ags, I`ll look out for it. Nice to have you back, by the way.

[bill]

Linda Castillo's latest is "Breaking Silence",which continues the series of murder thrillers in the Amish communities of Painters Mill, Ohio.Not as good as the first two.Found myself skipping quite a few pages.Never realised incest was so prevalent in Amish culture. Oh sorry,forgot it's fiction.

[numberplease]

Borkmann`s Point was OK, not brilliant, but good enough for me to try another Hakan Nesser book, The Inspector and Silence.

[bill]

The Burning Soul by John Connolly is the latest in the Charlie Parker series.A slow burner that leads to a violent but just ending.
Connolly only writes one book a year.As always it was worth the wait.

[numberplease]

I read a few books whilst on holiday up there, one being The Postcard Killers, one of James Patterson`s collaborations, can`t remember the other name. At the moment I`m reading You Belong to Me, by Karen Rose, enjoying it immensely.

[Martin]

Just read (again) Boys Life by Robert R. McCammon, this is a wee bit from it and I love it so much that it's up on my wall. The second example is also from the book.





When I was twelve years old, the world was my magic lantern, and by its
green spirit glow I saw the past, the present, and into the future. You
probably did too; you just don't recall it.

See, this is what I believe: we all start out knowing magic. We are born
with whirlwinds, forest fires, and comets inside us. We are born able to
sing to birds and read the clouds and see our destiny in grains of sand.
But then we get the magic educated right out of our souls. We get it
churched out, spanked out, washed out, and combed out. We get put on the
straight and narrow and told to be responsible. Told to act our age.
Told to grow up, for God's sake. And you know why we were told that?
Because the people doing the telling were afraid of our wildness and
youth, and because the magic we knew made them ashamed and sad of what
they'd allowed to wither in themselves.

After you go so far away from it, though, you can't get it back. You can
have seconds of it. Just seconds of knowing and remembering. When people
get weepy at movies, it's because in that dark theater the golden pool
of magic is touched, just briefly. Then they come out into the hard sun
of logic and reason again and it dries up, and they're left feeling a
little heartsad and not knowing why. When a song stirs a memory, when
motes of dust turning in a shaft of light takes your attention from the
world, when you listen to a train passing on a track at night in the
distance and wonder where it might be going, you step beyond who you are
and where you are. For the briefest of instants, you have stepped into
the magic realm.

The truth of life is that every year we get farther away from the
essence that is born within us. We get shouldered with burdens, some of
them good, some of them not so good. Things happen to us. Loved ones
die. People get in wrecks and get crippled. People lose their way, for
one reason or another. It's not hard to do, in this world of crazy
mazes. Life itself does its best to take that memory of magic away from
us. You don't know it's happening until one day you feel you've lost
something but you're not sure what it is. It's like smiling at a pretty
girl and she calls you "sir." It just happens.

That's what I believe


_______________________________________________________________________________________


We ran like young wild furies,
where angels feared to tread.
The woods were dark and deep.
Before us demons fled.
We checked Coke bottle bottoms
to see how far was far.
Our worlds of magic wonder
were never reached by car.
We loved our dogs like brothers,
our bikes like rocket ships.
We were going to the stars,
to Mars we'd make round trips.
We swung on vines like Tarzan,
and flashed Zorro's keen blade.
We were James Bond in his Aston,
we were Hercules unchained.
We looked upon the future
and we saw a distant land,
where our folks were always ageless,
and time was shifting sand.
We filled up life with living,
with grins, scabbed knees, and noise.
In glass I see an older man,
but this book's for the boys.

[Govangirl]

Martin, that first extract is fabulous. Thanks to you, I now have it up on my wall too. Great stuff, thanks

[Martin]

Mrs Nesbit, I'm pleased you like that. I do consider it to be one of the most wonderful things ever written.

[bill]

Buried Prey by John Sandford is the latest in the long line of "Prey " novels.Always a cracking good story line from Sandford. Lucas Davenport,head of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension,was a rookie cop when two young girls went missing and never found.Now their bodies have been discovered ,and Lucas is certain the wrong man was found guilty of their abduction,and is going all out to prove it.

[Ags]

Just not getting a minute to post on here these days but Numberplease I am also reading "You belong to me" by Karen Rose, my first of her books and I am really enjoying it so far.
But.........main reason for a quick visit this evening.....Have you Tess Gerritsen fans noticed that some of her books have been made into a series for tv? Rizzoli and Isles starts tonight at 10pm on Alibi, sky channel 132. I won't get a chance to see it tonight but have set it to record

[numberplease]

Hi Ags, nice to see you back! I also enjoyed You Belong to Me, but I always do enjoy Karen Rose, I`ve read quite a few of her books now. At the moment I`m struggling through The Wood Cutter, by Reginald Hill. It`s a good story, but a little confusing at the start, and it`s a bit long drawn out, but it`s starting to come together for me now. The other day, I read, in double quick time, a little book that I got as a freebie in a magazine, Black Eyed Devils, by Catrin Collier, all of 79 pages, but a bloomin` good story.
By the way, I was going to ask every female I saw in Macrihanish if they were you the other week, but there wasn`t a soul about!

[numberplease]

PS, I`m not sure if I want to watch Rizzoli and Isles, having seen a picture, they don`t look a bit like I imagined they`d look. I know it`s silly, but I can`t help it.

[bill]

Just finished an early Richard Montanari,The Violet Hour.As always he writes a great story,which keeps you in suspense to the final few pages.

[numberplease]

I read that one not long ago Bill. Quite unlike his later books, but I still enjoyed it. I`m coming towards the end of The Wood Cutter, nearly packed it in during the first couple of hundred pages, but glad now that I didn`t. It seemed very long drawn out earlier, but now I can see why, and would go so far as to recommend it.

[Ags]

By the way, I was going to ask every female I saw in Macrihanish if they were you the other week, but there wasn`t a soul about!

Numberplease next time you are here just pop into the Golf Club and somebody will be able to tell you where to find me or when I will be home. Sorry I missed you but hopefully you had a good holiday in Kintyre.

A friend lent me her kindle to go away last weekend. I wasn't sure other than at holiday times whether I would like it or not but I am loving it!! Family please take note for approaching Birthday/Christmas