Sunday, May 17, 2009

books again

As I checked out of the pub this morning the heavens opened! Not a problem since I had already told Dad I was coming straight back and there was a leg of Lamb with my name on it for Sunday lunch :D

I drove home in torrential rain but at home the rain had stopped and as I type the sun shines but I'm going to have an afternoon in.

I took 6 books with me and read the lot (two were short)!!! Luckily I bought a few whilst I was away.

So books read?

Anthony Hope - The Prisoner of Zenda ***, the film was fairly faithful, a good read.

John Buchan - The Thirty Nine Steps **, it was ok, I prefer the films!

Agatha Christie - A Tradgedy in Three Acts **, not one of the better Poirots

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes *****, classics of Victorian detection.

Steven Saylor - Last Seen in Massilia ***, a good if not outstanding entry in a superb series set in the Rome of Cicero, Pompey and Caesar.

Bernard Cornwall - Sharpe's Tiger - ***, Chronologically the first if not the first written. Ok you know the story, working class boy climbs the ranks against all the odds at the time of the Napoleonic Wars. This is the second I've read and they are good solid entertainment.

If you like mysteries or historical fiction then I can heartily recommend Steven Saylor's Gordianus the Finder (11 novels and 2 collections). The novels are best read in order and the first is Roman Blood.

On a side note I am totally up to date on my work emails - sad eh!

2 comments:

Margaret D. said...

Steven Saylor's Gordianus the Finder mysteries are superb! There's a complete list of them, in order, on the "Ancient History" page at www.HistoricalNovels.info. The whole website lists over 5000 historical novels, organized by time and place, with over 100 reviews, including one of Saylor's The Triumph of Caesar.

The Quacks of Life said...

Hi Margaret.

they are very well done.

I've lost track with a few series Alys Clare, Candice Robb, Kate Sedley.

Kate Sedley no longer has a paperback deal which is sad and AE Marston has given up on the Domesday books.

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