Books: Thursday murder club (R Osman)

I read all the books set in Malory Towers, and the series of the twins at St Clare’s. Enjoyed them all despite the very formulaic feel to them, or maybe because of it! Didn’t make me wish I was at boarding school though, but I’d have enjoyed a midnight feast or two.

 

I used to stay awake all night reading Blyton's 'The ....... of adventure' books they were much thicker than her other books and took longer to read.

 

Me too The Castle was by far my favourite, I keep re-reading it. The newer versions have been sensured in many waves though, "Big Joe" is no longer so obviously stereotyped black nasty man with flat nose and big lips and so on... times change.

The best thing about having kids is that it's the perfect excuse to re-buy all your own favourite books and read them again. And if the child gets interested, great discussions on related topics.

It's a shame that R Osman hasn't lived up to the standard of the first books that were promisingly refreshing and somehow new. It would have been great to have a new, trusted author.

Perhaps he'll perk up when he gets older and wiser

 

I still have the book “ The Magic Faraway Tree” on the book shelves that we read to our kids when they were small. Loved Enid Blyton.

 

I am reading an excellent book - "The End Of Woke - How the culture war went too far and what to expect from the counter-revolution" by Andrew Doyle. Quite a tome, very detailed and well researched with chapters about 40-50 pages long. I would highly recommend it.

I am concurrently enjoying Richard Osman's latest outing of the Thursday Murder Club team, having finally hit the front of the library queue. Still 100 people in front of me for the new Strike novel, but I am a patient sort.

 

Can't quite understand the Richard Osman craze. I read the first two and got bored, I thought they were just pot-boilers.
Currently re-reading 'A Gentleman In Moscow', by Amor Towles, yet again! Utterly spellbinding. I believe the Queen loved it, and thought it a perfect read during the pandemic. I read it before that, and I'm on my 14th go. Maybe I need to get a life?

 

14 times?

I like the characters in the Osman books. I regard the stories as enjoyable light entertainment. Would I buy them? No ... but then I rarely fork out for what the library can supply me for free (or, at worst, a 75p reservation fee).

 

I have just started listening to audiobooks by John Boyne. I hadn't really heard of him until he was nominated for a literary prize called the Polari prize, and then a lot of judges and other nominees got upset and refused to play because he had stood up for J.K. Rowling and defended womens' rights. Eventually the whole event was cancelled. Polari Prize organisers cancel book prize over trans controversy

But the effect of that was great publicity for him really and shot a load of his books up to the top of the bestsellers lists. I have just finished "A History of Loneliness" and it was amazing, beautifully written and the audiobook reader had a lovely soothing Irish accent. Now the difficulty is deciding which book to go for next, as he has written loads, thankfully I have lots of Audible credits stacked up

 

Well I am just going to have to give these Thursday Murder Club books a go. It seems I can get the first one with my ASDA online weekly shop. I don't do much reading apart from the Times and technical stuff on the Internet. As a kid I read a lot more and enjoyed it.

 

I hope you enjoy them, @cactus_girl. What shines through is that Osman both likes and understands older people. That is quite rare. Many authors are somewhat patronising or resort to stereotypes when introducing elderly characters. For Osman, they are the centre, painted with humour not pity, seen as fully rounded rather than depressed and past any useful action or thought.

 

I went to a talk last week on Christmas in Tudor Times. The speaker decided to indulge in historical research after retiring, and came dressed in homemade, authentically accurate Tudor dress. The talk was fascinating, and she had brought copies of her three published books to sell. I bought two, mainly to be polite, and decided to read them before passing them on to my daughter if they were any good.
I have to say, I’m halfway though the first one, and it’s hard to put down. It’s ’The Dartington Bride’ set in France and Devon, by Rosemary Griggs. Excellent attention to detail, well written and very readable. I’m glad I bought the follow up, Mistress of Dartingdon Hall, hopefully it will be as enjoyable as the first one. She has a website if you want to know more.
www.rosemarygriggs.co.uk

 

Just got a book out of the library titled "If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies". No, it is not about automated weaponised drones or gain-of-function virus meddling, but about superintelligent AI.

Maybe not conventional Christmas reading. The good will to all men bit is likely to be sadly lacking.

 

@Escarpment John Boyne........... look for "The Thief of Time" and "The Heart's Invisible Furies".
Can't find it at the moment but didn't he also write "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" ? Another good read IMO.

 

Note the "Thief of Time" is also the title of a Terry Pratchett story about clocks, monks, auditors and milkmen; the story may be more logical than John Boyne's story.

 

Thanks @Philippa, yes he did write "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas". I was just purchasing my next listen on Audible last night and considered "The Heart's Invisible Furies" but ended up with "A Ladder to the Sky" which is read by Richard. E. Grant. I'm sure I'll "read" them all in the end. I like the sound of "Mutiny on the Bounty".