Tag: reading

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The Organised Criminal

MsWalsh1 Comment

Last week we were at a book launch – it was a friend of ours that was having the launch.

A book by a friend is always a dodgy thing.  It could be great but it might not.

Well today I finished The Organised Criminal.

Generally I’m not a great one for florid writing but in this time I lapped it up.  In this instance the sentences were short and sharp, maintaining a steady pace.

The voice of the book is that of Jay O’Reilly who is also the main protagonist.

On the opening page we find out that he’s heading home for a family funeral, home being Crossmaglen, Northern Ireland.  He’s not overly happy about being back – no that’s not right – he’s not comfortable being back but it’s good to see some old friendly faces.

I don’t want to say anything else about the story as that would give the story away.  A good sign for me is that as I come to the end I just don’t want to put it down – I have to find out how does it all work out and in this particular instance I couldn’t put it down.  Now all I want to is to read more by Jarlath.

Bloggage · Books · Life · Reading

A Scream In Soho

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I did it!

I bought a copy of A Scream In Soho from the British Library during the summer last year and started to read it shortly after Christmas but found it very slow going.

It took me a while to get used to the style of writing.  Words are spelled out using accent phonetics – if there is such a thing – you knew if you had a Cockney, Italian, Irish or upper class British character.  The other thing I found was that for the first 50 pages or so it was mainly scene setting and hypothesising and theories – it felt a bit turgid – like wading through tar.  On the other hand, once the first corpse is located, it takes off at a gallop.  It took me 3wk to read the first few pages and the other 200 pages took 3 days.

I must add that I was under a cloud for the first while got a confidence shot last week, which might also have boosted my reading concentration…

A Scream In Soho by John G Brandon

(Click on Image to be taken to the British Library Shop – better still go to the actual shop it’s heavenly)

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Sunny Sunday Breakfast

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In the mornings we have sunshine on our veranda but come the afternoon the sun is out in the back garden.

So this morning I had my breakfast out doors.  Yes the weather has been that good over the last few days.

Armed with my iPhone I took a photo but can’t decide which app – the Instagram or Flickr?

Instagram

or

Flickr

Whichever one you like let me reassure you it was all really delicious & relaxing.

Books

What will you read this summer?

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Most of yesterday was filled with a yearning to read something different. My usual habits are crime fiction, fantasy & a bit of SF with bits and pieces thrown in on the sides for good measure. However I think it’s fair to say that it hasn’t been the best of times so far this year what with his cancer and me with stuff so my head isn’t in the mood for finding new books and that is why I’m having a summer of re-reads. It’s probably just a comfort thing and sticking to what I know so that is why I’ll be digging into the bits and pieces.

I’ve picked three books that I will re-read and one that’s been on my self for a while.
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
I Capture The Castle by Dodi Smith
Rose Cottage by Mary Stewart

The book that’s been on my shelf for a while sees me drifting back to crime fiction (ish) I say ish ’cause I’m not sure if it is or isn’t! Anyway that one is One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson.

However there is one new book that I might pick up over the summer and that is “Miss Conceived” by Emma Hannigan – I saw it when I was out shopping and it appealed to me – don’t ask!!

Books

Books, Books, Books!

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I am trying to decide on my up and coming reading.  I am in the middle of an Ian Rankin phase and would like to continue with that.  However, I see that Little Dorrit is going to be on the telly soon and the other day I was in Chapters having a look at the back of it thinking – that looks good.  So the plan might be to record the adaptation on the telly and read the book – or should I watch it and then read it?  Not too sure which order to do it in – a faithful retelling of the story would of course generally spoil the storyline if I wanted to read it.  On the other hand artistic licence might mean that what is on the telly has little to do with what is printed on the page – oh decisions, decisions!

Another thing that has to be considered at this time of year is that it is this time of year.  One more festival to pass by and then we can safely say ’tis the Season.  I have 2 books I like to read – Alice Taylor  The Night Before Christmas and some other book (it has no cover) I think it’s called Dear Santa – it’s a romance book.  So the draw back to all of this is that I’m a slow reader – Little Dorrit could take me ’til Summer at my rate and as I’m not really a two at a time anymore that would knock any festive reading out the window – and believe me I have alot of festive reading = an entire shelf of short stories and interesting facty type books.

Ok I’ve come to a semi/demi decision: Finish the Rebus book I’m in the middle of at work and on the bus etc.  In bed read facty type books.  See if I can get Dickens with a decent font and see how it goes – it might turn out I can’t read it anyway (I get like that sometimes) and can pick it up at a later date.  If I am going to read it there is a chance that it will be too big for handbag and therefore relegate it to weekend reading.

It’s not totally satisfactory but it is a way ahead so we shall see what today brings.