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I haven't read any from Child, or Caleeb Carr, though. Or 'The Great God Pan'; I'll have to look at it.
Quote from: Rook on December 22, 2010, 02:06:19 PMI haven't read any from Child, or Caleeb Carr, though. Or 'The Great God Pan'; I'll have to look at it. Um, I think that was supposed to be "Caleb Carr," who wrote The Alienist. I read that a long time ago, but remember enjoying it at the time. The term alienist was coined in the 19th Century to refer to what we now call a psychiatrist.
Um, I think that was supposed to be "Caleb Carr," who wrote The Alienist. I read that a long time ago, but remember enjoying it at the time. The term alienist was coined in the 19th Century to refer to what we now call a psychiatrist.
King, Dickens, Chandler - some fine choices indeed. Well done everyone!I'm a huge Stephen King fan. Totally agree that he's not always on the money, but when he is he is right up there with my favourite authors. The early books tend to be the best (IMHO) - imagine starting one's career with Carrie, Salem's Lot, The Stand, Night Shift, and The Shining! You could put your feet up and never write another thing and still be one of the greatest horror writers ever. But instead you go on and produce Different Seasons (which includes King's best ever piece - again IMHO - The Body. This remains one of my all time favourite stories), The Mist, The Dead Zone, The Talisman, The Green Mile, Pet Sematary, and probably a bunch more that I don't recall at the moment. On top of all that his non-fiction is also stunning - Danse Macabre, On Writing, and all the scores of forwards and afterwards in his own and other's book have done more to inspire me to actually put bum on seat and write than anyone else has. Everything King writes is infused with the sheer joy of being a writer. Now clearly anyone who writes the sheer number of novels and stories that King does is going to produce a few that don't reach the heights of all the aforementioned books, but even when writing something like Cell he still knows exactly what to do, exactly where to put his characters, exactly how to produce tension and must-read-on moments. Derek
Quote from: Pharosian on December 22, 2010, 07:27:31 PMUm, I think that was supposed to be "Caleb Carr," who wrote The Alienist. I read that a long time ago, but remember enjoying it at the time. The term alienist was coined in the 19th Century to refer to what we now call a psychiatrist.So right you are---sorry about the mishap in the name, wasn't looking I guess. The Alienist was very good and I have two more of his on the shelf waiting for some time to come up for me to start reading again...
I wonder if there are any dyslexic people out there who sometimes write his name as "Cable Carr"...
HP Lovecrap
A really good friend of mine bought me How To Drive A Tank... by Frank Coles for Christmas. It's part self-help book, part instruction manual, as it details how to do the aforementioned tank-driving, to how best to handle your finances, and even how to dispose of a dead body. I don't know where my friend got it from because I'm certain the legality of some chapters is questionable (how to fake your death, for instance) but it's all done seriously (in that these are facts, not someone saying how they'd do it) with some humour (like the reason you might need to get hold of a gun within 24 hours, for instance). A very interesting book.
My daughter's given me a French cookery book which includes interesting dishes like starling paté. ASDA doesn't sell starling, so I doubt if I'll be making that one.
