The Day of the Jackal and Nicholas Montserrat's The Cruel Sea were two of my favourite books as a teenager, both were far more detailled and in-depth than the films made from them but that is the very essence of the book vs film debate, its compulsory to use your imagination with one format while you simply view someone elses imagination with no input from yourself with the other.

Currently also reading An Innocent Man by John Grisham, one of his factual books rather than fiction taking on the cause of a man who served 11 years on Death Row for murder before finally being exonerated by DNA evidence, very readable and for a book that could simply set out the case files in a staid courtroom clerk's voice its quite fast paced and almost designed like a novel.

Also - I'm actually reading books again, not eBooks, strange how I flit between the two.

And finally - I bet Mugwump doesn't have any problems dropping off to sleep on a night, or during the day.

Just starting Without fail the 6th Jack Reacher novel - I need Lee Child to slow down if I want to catch up before I retire!!

I've never really been able to read fiction I usually just stick to autobiographies (sports people mainly) or true crime stuff, I'm currently reading Lester Piggotts autobiography

Fiction is about imagination I suppose - my next book will be Luck by Ed Smith so a factual book around how important luck is in professional sport

Sal Paradise wrote:Fiction is about imagination I suppose - Agreed. That's why I prefer reading a book or listening to a radio drama to watching TV or film. The only exception in recent years being Game of Thrones It can cause disappointment though. Up to about 30 years ago I used to read the Daily Mirror and avidly read The Perishers cartoon strip, then Maurice Dodd allowed The Perishers to be turned into an animated TV cartoon. It ruined everything for me, the voices on the TV did not match the characters' voices in my head

Sal Paradise wrote:Fiction is about imagination I suppose - Agreed. That's why I prefer reading a book or listening to a radio drama to watching TV or film. The only exception in recent years being Game of Thrones It can cause disappointment though. Up to about 30 years ago I used to read the Daily Mirror and avidly read The Perishers cartoon strip, then Maurice Dodd allowed The Perishers to be turned into an animated TV cartoon. It ruined everything for me, the voices on the TV did not match the characters' voices in my head

cod'ead wrote:Agreed. That's why I prefer reading a book or listening to a radio drama to watching TV or film. The only exception in recent years being Game of Thrones It can cause disappointment though. Up to about 30 years ago I used to read the Daily Mirror and avidly read The Perishers cartoon strip, then Maurice Dodd allowed The Perishers to be turned into an animated TV cartoon. It ruined everything for me, the voices on the TV did not match the characters' voices in my head Game of Thrones is excellent - I find the book a little tedious and over detailed, this is getting worse in the later books. The cast of Game of Thrones is stellar which also helps with the quality of the drama too - Emilia Clarke must be the sexiest woman on TV!!

cod'ead wrote:Agreed. That's why I prefer reading a book or listening to a radio drama to watching TV or film. The only exception in recent years being Game of Thrones It can cause disappointment though. Up to about 30 years ago I used to read the Daily Mirror and avidly read The Perishers cartoon strip, then Maurice Dodd allowed The Perishers to be turned into an animated TV cartoon. It ruined everything for me, the voices on the TV did not match the characters' voices in my head Game of Thrones is excellent - I find the book a little tedious and over detailed, this is getting worse in the later books. The cast of Game of Thrones is stellar which also helps with the quality of the drama too - Emilia Clarke must be the sexiest woman on TV!!

Agree with that, because it is so disappointing when the characters in films and TV don't look like they did in my head.
I like Stephen King novels, even his Dark Tower ones. Apart from the well known ones, Shawshank and Stand by Me and The Green Mile the films etc are terrible.
Going through a 'detective' phase at the moment, Sophie Hannah and Mark Billingham are filling these dark rugby-less days!

Coincidence or not ?

I often have two books on the go at the same time, it helps to confuse me more.

Anyway, as well as reading the book (proper book) mentioned above "An Innocent Man" by John Grisham, a factual account of a man wrongly convicted as a murderer and serving 11 years on death row for it, I was browsing the excellent Leeds City Libraries eBook loan selection and came across Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood", the true story (indeed he wrote it in a reportage style while the investigation was taking place, he and Harper Lee writing up thousands of pages of notes from interviews ) of a Kansas family who were murdered in their farmhouse home, a fascinating story all the more so because its true and because its written in a novelistic style yet still sticks rigidly to the facts, its still the second largest selling true crime novel.

It was only when I started reading it that I made the connection to the other book laying by my bed, something deep inside just likes reading about murders I think...watch this space.

The Jack Reacher book I am reading is showing much promise - third of the way through as usual a couple of interesting female characters in the plot - hopefully the quality will be maintained to the end

Have you read any Richard North Patterson many of his novels have that feel - could I recommend:
The Race
Balance of power