Your Amazon monthly deals for November. I should have more time as there is now literally nothing to do outside except running, cycling and Sainsburys. All on at 99p except the superb Davidson which will set you back £2.49p.
Thrillers and Detective
Barbera Vine – The Birthday Party – AKA Ruth Rendell, in her psychological thriller mode.
Lionel Davidson – Kolymnsky Heights – breaking my 99p price point for this, quite simply one of the best straight thrillers written, the equal of the best of Deighton or Forsyth. A writer now quite forgotten, but this is just brilliant.
Philip Kerr – Metropolis – another from the author and a prequel to the Gunther novels, set in 1928 Germany. His last sadly.
Non-Fiction
Paul Hilburn – Paul Simon
Joan Didion – Year of Magical Thinking. Not an easy read, but she is incapable of writing a bad sentence. Her story of the year after her husband died suddenly.
Classics
Boccacio – The Decameron – in a Penguin Classics. Big commitment.
Dodie Smith – I Capture the Castle – never read this and now will.
JG Farrell – Troubles – a left-field choice for the ITV Sunday 9pm costume drama slot recently.
Fiction
Pat Barker – Life Class trilogy – really enjoyed the Regeneration trilogy. These 3 novels are a return to WW1, this time from the perspectives of London bohemians.
Bret Easton Ellis – American Psycho – the best Phil Collins and Huey Lewis music criticism on the planet.
Nora Ephron _ Heartburn – something fluffy and light
Taffy Brodesser-Akner – Fleishman Is In Trouble – along with the Davidson my top tip this month. Ok its pre-COVID but in every other way if you want to see where the sweeping New York novel is now, this is where to go. On one level a portrait of a disintegrating middle-class Manhattenite marriage, on another a fantastic analysis of contemporary gender politics. The switches of narrative and where sympathy lies are expertly done.
Ann Patchett – Bel Canto – another writer I have often read reviews of, and is clearly very well thought of, without being particularly personally interested in. Maybe this one.
Sci-fi
Peter F Hamilton – Judas Unchained – do not read this before Part 1 Pandora’s Star. Along with the Night’s Dawn trilogy, these two are Hamilton at his best, all pulpy space opera energy.
Ray Bradbury – Fahrenheit 451 – no words needed on this one surely? (apart from the irony of reading it on a Kindle)
One for all your Trekkies out there… surely 99p is well sepnt on The Star Trek Cookbook. Here’s the enticing copy:
Neelix, chef to the 140 crew of the USS Voyager, doesn’t have an easy task. He’s had to learn to satisfy the appetites of a dozen different alien races, in the course of which he’s amassed a vast collection of recipes and tricks of interstellar haute cuisine. Now he reveals for the first time the secret preparation techniques behind all those exotic dishes – not to mention those intergalactic drinks . . .
THE STAR TREK COOKBOOK includes dozens of easy and fun-filled recipes from Klingons, Vulcans, Ferengi, Cardassians – and, of course, spacefaring humans. All the favourite dishes of characters from every Star Trek series and movie are here, all adapted to make use of available Earth ingredients and suitable for preparation in twentieth-century kitchens. PLUS there’s a complete guide to all the delicious concoctions that Quark serves in his bar!
Kolymsky Heights is a fantastic book. You have to stick with it for a while though. Highly recommended.
Barack Obama autobiography only 79p today on Amazon daily deals.
Thanks for that. I’ve already read (twice) the Lionel Davidson book, and can concur with your description.
I’ve treated myself to the Philip Kerr & JG Farrell books you mentioned, so thanks again.
Complete HP Lovecraft up for 99p at the moment as well
Anybody read here Lonesome Dove? I know it has a good reputation but the offer price is a frankly gouging £1.99….seriously, it’s more the investment in 900+ pages I’m concerned about. Does the appeal cross over to someone (me) who has never been that bothered about Westerns specifically but enjoys a good read?
For modern westerns I would look no further than Cormac McCarthy – his Border trilogy is excellent.
I was a bit annoyed by the frequent bits of untranslated Spanish dialogue in that trilogy.
Made it harder going, with no real need for it.
Lonesome Dove is brilliant. Rollicking adventure, astonishing set pieces, wonderful characters including an implacable, cruel villain.
It’s a big novel, but I raced through it and wished it were twice as long.
Big fan of McCarthy too, All the Pretty Horses (first of the Border Trilogy) is magnificent. The fight scene in the Mexican jail is one of the best action set pieces I have ever read. Blood Meriden is apocalyptically grim, and utterly mesmerising.
Re: “the frequent bits of untranslated Spanish dialogue”
I hear you, brother Mike_H. I kept having to look up Spanish words like “caballo”, which cropped up every now and then.
Read it. It‘s Dickensian. Plenty of dramatic climaxes at regular intervals. It keeps you engaged all the way.
You don’t need to be a western fan. It’s the story of the two (make that three) central male characters going through An Odyssey.
cheers all, will probably add it to the (virtual) pile
Very funny books only 99p on Kindle from Amazon by David Wong.
Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suit
amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B015IZDOTA/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i1
This Book Is Full Of Spiders: Seriously Dude Don’t Touch It
amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00MLDJXMA/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i3
Spiders is a sequel but you don’t need to read the first book.
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Nora Ephron’s Heartburn is the best example of the nonsense of only using ‘said’ and never another word before or after speech. The word ‘asked’ is not used when it’s clearly the far superior option. I loathe the thinking that claims ‘said’ is the only word that can be used when denoting dialogue. I feel very strongly about this issue.
Didn’t Agatha Christie used to use “ejaculate”? Oo er …
Those books would struggle to be funnier than your last paragraph. Exactly the kind of borderline-OCD stuff I come out with.
Slight dissent…I once worked with a writer (quite a successful one too) who would go to any lengths to avoid using ‘said’, ending up with absurdities like ‘he questioned’ or ‘he chuckled’. If you’re in control of your dialogue you can often do without anything at all, if there are enough clues to help you keep track. ‘Asked’ might well be redundant too if the question mark is doing its job. But I agree, page after page of he said she said is annoying.
I keep seeing kindly deals and continue to click.