What are you reading now?

[vinteuil]

John Buchan: Greenmantle

I didn't even know that Richard Hannay got up to more tricks after The 39 Steps, but saw this in the local library and thought I'd find out!

... o yes : and then Mr Standfast, The Three Hostages, The Island of Sheep

I loved them when young : I would probably find the unthinking racism and antisemitism harder to swallow now.
But they are all rattling good yarns....

[smittims]

As you like it.

One of the few Shakespeare plays I've seen more than once on stage. But I prefer to read it and imagine my perfect staging . And of course one gets the full text, important to me. Even so, it's impossible to erase memories of some of the actors I've heard : Roy Dotrice as Jaques, Kelly Hunter as Rosalind, ad Ian Partridge (yes!) as Amiens, for once an actor who could really sing the songs.

[Jonathan]

John Buchan: Greenmantle

I didn't even know that Richard Hannay got up to more tricks after The 39 Steps, but saw this in the local library and thought I'd find out!

There are actually 5 in the Hannay series, plus he gets a mention in "The Courts of the Morning" - if I remember correctly! I read them avidly when the TV series "Hannay" was on television in the mid 80s and I was in my early teens.

[vinteuil]

There are actually 5 in the Hannay series, plus he gets a mention in "The Courts of the Morning" - if I remember correctly! I read them avidly when the TV series "Hannay" was on television in the mid 80s and I was in my early teens.

also in The Green Wildebeeste, a short story in The Runagates Club -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Runagates_Club

[vinteuil]

... o yes : and then Mr Standfast, The Three Hostages, The Island of Sheep

I loved them when young : I would probably find the unthinking racism and antisemitism harder to swallow now.
But they are all rattling good yarns....

... we had them in the house because my father did the jackets for the penguins -

https://www.flickr.com/photos/26518458@N05/6057241572

[eighthobstruction]

.....fabulous mate....

[richardfinegold]

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, for one of my book clubs

[smittims]

Thackeray: Pendennis.

I try to re-read Pendennis,The Newcomes and Vanity Fair every few years in-between Trollope , Turgenev and other favourites. Despite their length I find them irresistibly comanionable and congenial from beginning to end. No novels I've read from the 20th -century come near them for me. .

[Petrushka]

To mark the 250th anniversary of her birth, I've decided to embark on a reading of Jane Austen's novels through the year in the order in which she wrote them.

Currently reading 'Sense and Sensibility' to start things off.

[gradus]

Among Others Friendships and Encounters by Michael Frayn, as good as you would expect from him.

[smittims]

I loved Michael Frayn's First to Last, televised with Joss Ackland as Mr.Holly. I wish they'd repeat it. I have the book, but it's not the same.

[Ian Thumwood]

I have been reading Robert Harris's 'Pompeii.' This is only the second book of his i have read. I love Roman history and this book is entertaining not only for the story but also identifying the sources of the historical detail. It is really amusing and adds alot of appeal for me. It was oroif read by Prof Mary Beard. Great fun.

[smittims]

'It was oriof read by Mary Beard '.

unlike message 4002

[LMcD]

I loved Michael Frayn's First to Last, televised with Joss Ackland as Mr.Holly. I wish they'd repeat it. I have the book, but it's not the same.

The untimely death of Ray MacNally led to Joss Ackland's being cast as Mr Holly. I found the silent greeting towards the end incredibly moving.
I've just finished 'Brothers In Arms', Paul Gough's study of the life and work of Paul and John Nash.

[Petrushka]

I'm still continuing with the 'Chips' Channon Diaries. Despite some silly opinions, particularly about Nazi Germany and Italy, not uncommon in British aristocratic circles, which aged badly in a few short years, the writing is vivid and witty. I've just read his vivid and moving description of the death and funeral procession of King George V in January 1936 and it's writing of a high order.

I'm alternating the Diaries with Jane Austen, currently half way through Sense and Sensibility.