When I picked up Little Face Sands said that she hadn’t enjoyed it and found the main character un appealing. Not the best of recommendations. Anyway I enjoyed the book more than I thought I would. It had the potential to be another ‘girlie’ book and although the subject matter (missing baby) would indicate that may be the case, in reality it is more of a thriller than anything else.
I am a liitle fed up with reading Sands stuff though – any suggestions as to what I should be looking to pick up for Xmas?
> any suggestions as to what I should be looking to pick up for Xmas?
Although I’m no longer the bookworm I used to be, I still get sucked into novels now and again. There are several authors whose new novels I will pick up without reading the synopsis. (I prefer to read a novel from the point of view of the author’s character(s), with the story unfolding as they encounter it. If I have read the synopsis, I’ll be second-guessing the various things I’ve read about and, to my mind, that can spoil a story for me.)
I’ve long been a fan of what can loosely be called “crime fiction”, so here are some suggestions from that genre. In no particular order:
Lindsay Davis Her main character, Falco, is a private investigator and the setting is ancient Rome. The first book saw Falco introduced in the style (in my opinion) of Chandler’s Philip Marlowe. After this, she found her own style and settled down to write, so far, 18 Falco novels. You need to read these in order as Falco and his family, friends, colleagues, enemies, etc grow from one novel to the next. (The one exception is “The Course of Honour ” which is separate from the Falco series, although it too is set against ancient Rome.) These are fictional characters, but they are set against historically accurate background. (Don’t let the worry of a history lesson put you off!)
Janet Evanovich She now has several characters/strands. The only one I know is Stephanie Plum. Stephanie is an accident prone bail bond collection agent (aka bounty hunter) in modern Trenton, New Jersey. At times these books are laugh-out-loud funny! These too need to be read in order. I can’t speak for the other characters, as I’m reluctant to try them, for fear that they’d be disappointing after the on-going chronicles of Stephanie Plum!
I think you might find there’s a good chance that Sands might enjoy these first two too.
Carl Hiaasen Another author who’s been at it for years. Modern settings, typically around the Miami region. He has a small number of characters he returns to periodically, though not in every novel, and so this author’s work should really be read in order too. I began with his solo books, so that’s “Tourist Season” and read “forward” from there.
Simon Kernick Finally, for now, there’s relative newcomer, Simon Kernick. He’s only managed to write six novels so far. (Come on Simon, keep up!) Contemporary stories, set around London and the home counties. Again, read these in the order they were written. Modern and gritty.
All different. All brilliant. (I bet, after having typed all this up, that you turn round and tell me you don’t like crime novels!)
That is a really great list – thanks for taking so much time over the shout 🙂
I am a fan of the Crime Fiction, and somehow or another have missed all of these so you have given me a great task for tomorrow on Amazon.
Again, thanks!
Here’s another handful which I meant to mention.
Fred Willard’s “Down on Ponce“. I think it must be out of print, but if you can pick up a nice quality second-hand copy, you’ll not regret it – I went back and read it again a few years after I first read it. It was just as good, if not better, the second time around. Willard seems to have only written two novels, and according to one of the commentators at the previous Amazon link , “Princess Naughty and the Voodoo Cadillac” is even better. Since I’ve just discovered that it’s still in print I’ve added it to my wish list so I can pick up a copy the next time I’m placing an Amazon order.
Lawrence Block‘s “Bernie Rhodenbarr” series is another series I followed avidly when I was in the prime of my crime-reading bookworm phase. Bernie’s a bookseller by day, a burglar by night. One of the Bernie books was made into a movie starring Whoopi Goldberg (the book’s Bernie is a Bernard – this was a Bernice or Bernadette). I seem to recall that the movie was okay, but no better. The books are great. If you decide to try them, I’d recommend taking them in the order written, although the author himself suggests that’s less important here than with some of his other characters, of which there are several.
Edward Bunker wrote “The Animal Factory” about life in prison. I read it a couple of years back. It’s a brutal story, but once you start getting into it, it’s thoroughly compelling. It was made into a movie which I managed to pick up on DVD earlier this year. It’s not bad, but it didn’t do the book justice for me.
Last one for tonight which stands out is the recent John Grisham title “The Last Juror“. I’ve read pretty much most of his books over the years and enjoyed most of them. I felt that this was a little bit of a departure for him. It was a slower book which strolled in a very leisurely manner through the story. More of a character study than a whodunnit. And absolutely brilliant.
Wow, if I get all those I really wont have any reason to go out 🙂 Again,, many thanks – will head over to Amazon today
I can see it now. You’ll need to get a treadmill for up on the balcony. And you’ll run on it while listening to music on one of your iPods, with your camera gear slung across your back and a book in your hands… I think that covers most of the bases. 🙂
That would work. an audiobook may be a better betthough so have hands free to use the wireless remote on the camera 🙂