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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 10 of 10. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Dinah on April 28, 2007, at 10:12:48
Do you have any idea what I should explore next? I'm already worried about running out of Brother Cadfael, and I've exhausted Ellery.
Posted by Dinah on April 28, 2007, at 10:14:08
In reply to If I like Ellis Peters and Ellery Queen, posted by Dinah on April 28, 2007, at 10:12:48
I like Jonathan Kellerman too, but only on books on tape. His reader is fabulous and adds a lot to the stories.
Posted by Racer on April 28, 2007, at 14:03:38
In reply to If I like Ellis Peters and Ellery Queen, posted by Dinah on April 28, 2007, at 10:12:48
Anne Perry -- who was one of the girls in "Heavenly Creatures" -- has written three separate historical series. One, my favorite, is set just after the Crimean war, and begins with "The Face of a Stranger." It's well written, and quite interesting from an historical standpoint.
The second series, which I think was begun first, is set in the later 1880s/1890s. The first in this series is "The Cater Street Hangman." All the books in this series includes a street name in the title. I won't tell you more, because it would probably be a spoiler for the first book.
Then there's her latest, which I believe begins with "No Graves As Yet," and is set in the opening days of the First World War. I've only read the first, and can say that it's up to the high standards the other series' have set.
Sharyn McCrumb also has several different series going. The first I read has two books in it: "B*mbos of the Death Sun," which is brilliant, and "Zombies of the Gene Pool," which is interesting, but not quite as brilliant. (Although it does have some fine "Dueling Banjoes" riffs in it...) The second series is set in contemporary times, and features a heroine named Elizabeth MacPherson. I can't remember the first of those books, though, so you're on your own. They're fun. The series I think you'd really enjoy, though, is the Ballad novels -- each is named after an Appalachian folk ballad. The first is "If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O." Set in a small town near the Tennesee/NC border, they're nominally about small town residents, but have a lot of ghosts -- the real kind, not the sort who float around. The kind that we carry with us, like when I can suddenly feel my grandmother's love touch me, if that makes sense? They're lovely, include real scholarship, and are just too much fun.
Steven Saylor has writtne a number of books set in Ancient Rome, and I've learned a lot of history as a result. They're enjoyable, although not Really Brilliant. They're fun, though.
For sheer fun, though, I recommend Martha Grimes' early Richard Jury books. "The Man With A Load Of Mischief" is the starting point, and there are always some hysterically funny bits to them. The later books have become rather dim, though -- less joy, more depression, but still some funny bits. (My loyalty is eternal, though, since one of the characters hired an ornamental hermit for his property...)
I hope there's something in there that helps.
Posted by Dinah on May 2, 2007, at 17:11:51
In reply to Anne Perry, Sharyn McCrumb, and S. Saylor » Dinah, posted by Racer on April 28, 2007, at 14:03:38
Ok, I'm going to click on those and put it in my cart to look into. :)
I just found a buried copy of "The Mindful Brain" by Daniel Siegel but I don't think I've got the brainpower or concentration to read it right now.
Posted by Dinah on May 2, 2007, at 17:22:18
In reply to Anne Perry, Sharyn McCrumb, and S. Saylor » Dinah, posted by Racer on April 28, 2007, at 14:03:38
Speaking of learning history, I got through one whole world history exam in college on my knowledge from reading Roberta Gellis, who has the honor of having the only character I've ever fallen madly in love with.
Posted by Racer on May 2, 2007, at 19:21:10
In reply to Re: Anne Perry, Sharyn McCrumb, and S. Saylor » Racer, posted by Dinah on May 2, 2007, at 17:22:18
> Roberta Gellis, who has the honor of having the only character I've ever fallen madly in love with.
lol I don't know Roberta Gellis, but when you read Martha Grimes, remember this: Melrose Plant is MINE!
Despite the French literature thing...
Posted by Dinah on May 4, 2007, at 17:18:31
In reply to Re: Anne Perry, Sharyn McCrumb, and S. Saylor » Dinah, posted by Racer on May 2, 2007, at 19:21:10
Ah, you can have him.
My heart firmly belongs to Simon, and I haven't *quite* forgiven her for killing him off and letting his widow marry her husband's former squire.
Posted by Racer on May 4, 2007, at 23:16:08
In reply to Re: Anne Perry, Sharyn McCrumb, and S. Saylor » Racer, posted by Dinah on May 4, 2007, at 17:18:31
I'm sorry, but I'm confused. Who, please, is Simon?
Posted by Dinah on May 4, 2007, at 23:27:59
In reply to Re: Anne Perry, Sharyn McCrumb, and S. Saylor » Dinah, posted by Racer on May 4, 2007, at 23:16:08
Why, one of the great loves of my life. I can't imagine another literary character ever taking his place. :)
Posted by Dinah on May 5, 2007, at 13:27:47
In reply to Re: Anne Perry, Sharyn McCrumb, and S. Saylor » Racer, posted by Dinah on May 4, 2007, at 23:27:59
A couple of quotes from "Roselynde"
'"I was dreaming."
Dreaming? Surely, Alinor thought as she heard the Queen's command repeated, that is not the face of a dreamer. It was the face of a Norman reaver, square and hard, with a determined chin and a hard mouth. The nose was hidden by the nosepiece, but after Sir Simon had swung down from his horse and lifted her, first to her feet and then into her saddle, her conviction was a little shaken. Perhaps the eyes, a misty gray-blue, held dreams. They were remarkably innocent eyes - more innocent, I would guess, than my own, Alinor thought.'
and my favorite
'"Simon lounged on the nearest bench, his eyes on the exquisite work and the flying needle that produced it.
"I cannot do that," he had said softly one time.
Alinor looked up from her work and laughed, "What? Embroider?"
"That too, but I meant I cannot produce beauty of any kind."
After a moment of silence in which Alinor studied Simon's face, she said, "That is not really true. There is a beauty in justice. Often and often, I have heard tell, you have made fair and just what was foul and corrupt."'
and
'She was rewarded for her restraint by a week of perfect romance, just as she had read it in the tales of Chretien de Troyes and Andreas Cappelanus' Tractatus. Simon had learned the conventions in his youth and he unfolded that fragile and lovely plaything of the idle for the child he loved, who did not believe in idleness.'
I daresay my therapist would make something of Simon being thirty years senior to Alinor. :) But really, how could anyone resist that man of honour and duty with the misty blue-gray eyes of a dreamer?
This is the end of the thread.
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