The Ghostman commeth

I am supposed to be working on ms number two, instead I'm elbow deep in Ghostman, a debut novel by Roger Hobbs, oh my god it's good.

The reason I'm not doing Nano this year...

Finished the new MJ Rose (coming May 2013) loved it. Read an arc on cat whispering (required reading if you have a cat(s)) I’m in the middle of Speaking from Among the Bones, the newest installment in the Flavia De Luce series which comes out in January, and due to the perils of shelving I just started the first in the Bruno series by Martin Walker.

Today I’m concentrating on Tball

Oh and one more thing.Many congratulations to Chris and Jo Ewan on the birth of their little girl Jessica! I'm dying to read Safe House but will have to wait until November.

Thoughts on ‘Seduction’

Don’t panic I haven’t gone all romance novelist on you, Seduction is the title of the new MJ Rose novel. As regular readers of this blog will know, I love Rose’s novels, they engage me, tweak my imagination and lead to some fascinating bookstore conversations. The one that sticks with me being the comment a visitor (not a regular) to the store made after I’d told her how much I liked the last book (Book of Lost Fragrances)

She said, “you don’t actually believe in that stuff do you?”

That stuff being reincarnation. I told her I didn’t disbelieve it, and that after reading ‘fragrances’ I’d gone on to read about the perfumer’s art, the new bio of Cleopatra, several books based in France, what I now refer to as a book cascade.

So the book cascade from Seduction? So far it includes other works by Victor Hugo or a biography of the man and Celtic Myths and legends from the Isle of Jersey.

Monday roundup

Loads of writing (and rewriting) over the weekend. I finished A Foreign Country and I think I like Cumming's stories more with every book.

I also read an arc of Sweet Tooth by McEwan, loved it. Especially fond of the descriptions of civil servants during the 70's muffled up in coats, hats and mitten while running secret agents. Having been a junior civil servant, (Inland Revenue, we called it International Rescue) and working in a drafty old building that was once used to house mental patients I can relate to some of those scenes. And look out for Millie Trimmington-nice pun.

Have set myself the target of ten pages of Tball today so I'd better get cracking.

Phantom, Jo Nesbo

Harry Hole never intended to return from Hong Kong. And he certainly didn’t want to go back into police work but family makes you funny that way.

Oslo hasn’t changed for the better, there’s a new drug on the streets known as ‘Violin’. Oleg, the closest thing Harry has to a son has admitted to shooting a dealer, and Harry wants to know the truth. His investigation into burners, ukranians, mules and killers with long sharp knives leads Harry to a showdown, maybe his last.

Stonemouth, Iain Banks

Just your average Scottish town, Stuart grew up here, fell in love, almost married Ellie, made it out by the skin of his teeth. Almost ignited a gang war…

Now Stuart’s back, just for the weekend mind and he had to get permission from the head of the Murston gang just for that. He’s here for a funeral, hopefully not his own.

The Woman Who Died A Lot, Jasper Fforde

More wonderful lunacy from Jasper Fforde. After an almost successful assassination attempt by the downright nasty Goliath corporation, (See One of Our Thursdays is Missing) Thursday Next is hired as Swindon’s Chief Librarian.

This isn’t as cushy a job as it sounds> For starters she’s got to deal with homicidal nuns (some of them male!), death threats from Jolly Hilly of the Enid Blyton supporters group, a mega budget of 300 pounds and 67 p and the threat of being replaced by an army of Goliath financed Thursday clones (known as day players).

Oh, and Swindon is due for a serious smiting at the end of the week from a very ticked-off deity. To top it all off Thursday gets involved in the search for DRM or Dark Reading Matter. Regular Fforde lovers will lap this up, if you’re new to Thursday’s adventures, start with The Eyre Affair.

October? Already?

New picks for October, include more from Thursday Next (or is that Nexts?), Scottish crime from Iain Banks and latest in the Harry Hole series, Phantom. I'm currently reading Charles Cummings' A Foreign Country and thoroughly enjoying it.